Happy Birthday, Theo!

Theodore Geisel was born on March 2nd. He would be turning 109 on Monday. We all know him better as Dr. Suess. (His father desperately wanted him to become a doctor… Geisel took the pseudonym as a nod to his dad.) Books like Horton Hears a Who, Green Eggs and Ham, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish are familiar to people world-wide.

His writing impacted me much more as an adult. Two pieces, in particular, will always hold a special place in my heart. Oh, the Places You’ll Go and The Sneetches mean a lot to me.

Oh, the Places You’ll Go, which has become a permanent fixture on the graduation gift circuit was published in 1990, just a year before Dr. Suess went to that Who-ville in the sky. It is probably one of his few books that was created specifically for an older audience.

College was tough for me. I was determined to finish, but it took longer than it should have. Like many others, I was strapped with the responsibility of paying my way through. In fact, I don’t think that I’ve felt such a sense of accomplishment as I did the day that I received my degree. Talk about self-esteem --- wow, an accomplishment sure works better than pats on the head, in my opinion!

In honor of my graduation I received two gifts that I cherish. My mother bought me a copy of the Suess book. She had not only written a lovely message inside the cover, she had also taken the time to put together an array of photos. My family has never been much of picture taking (and we’re all pretty far from photogenic!) so having a few important pictures arranged on the inside cover of such a special book made it all the more valuable to me. I’ll tell you, when you’re feeling a little blue or a little ‘less than’ – take a quick read at Oh, the Places You’ll Go. The book does more than offer a pick-me-up, I believe it offers inspiration.

The other gift, by the way, is a Spiderman tie.

The Sneetches, which often appears as part of a collection of stories, probably isn’t as long as most Dr. Suess books. The story features themes that are universal and, in my opinion, very important. Published in 1961, it tells the funny tale two sets of critters called Sneetches. One set is born with stars on their bellies and one set is born with plain bellies. Age old ‘the grass is always greener’ and ‘wanting what you can’t have’ themes are explored using the brand of rhyme and whimsy that Dr. Suess is known for. This story works on separate levels and is enjoyable to people of all ages. Using it with older kids is really great, as it works as a great jumping off point for discussions of race, equality, etc.

So, while I have enjoyed most all Dr. Suess’ books (and especially enjoy reading them aloud!) The Sneetches and Oh, the Places You’ll Go, remain my favorites.

Happy birthday, Theo! You’ve probably touched the lives of many more people than you would have if you’d listened to your dad and been a part of the medical community!

Socks

I have a love/hate relationship with socks.

I pretty much am in love with bare feet. I want my size thirteens free. If socially acceptable, I’d be barefoot (or maybe in flip flops) at all times (I guess I am more like George Costanza from Seinfeld than I thought --- remember when he wanted to be draped in velvet were it socially acceptable?)

So socks… yeah… I am very picky about buying socks. They have to be the right weight. Wool, and other heavier socks, worn with Birkenstocks aren’t a good look --- but what a great feel in the cold weather. However, most of the time I like very light-weight socks. The glitch comes in that oftentimes I’ve found that thinner socks aren’t sturdy enough. It blows chunks to wear a new pair of socks one time and then realize that you’ve already torn a hole in them or otherwise destroyed them.

On the other hand, thicker socks can create havoc. To me, there isn’t much worse than having on shoes and thick socks. That can create an epic proportion nightmare that lasts all day. I can’t even pretend to think clearly when my dogs are begging for freedom from their cloth prisons.

Lately I’ve found a great compromise. Perfectly weighted socks that make me (and my tootsies) so happy. I can’t remember the brand name, but they are sold at Target and, I believe, are the brand of that store. Yep, I love em.

Socks can be my friend.

81st Annual Academy Awards

I thought about live-blogging the Oscars. Yeah, I thought about it. For about ten minutes.

Instead, like so many others (tons more this year, I hope!) I just watched and enjoyed the telecast. The past few years I haven’t actually watched the telecast live. In fact, I’ve basically fast-forwarded through the past five or so years.

This year I watched live and was glad that I did. So, I am going to offer some knee-jerk reactions:

Actress In A Supporting Role – Penelope Cruz
I didn’t see the movie but I loved her speech.

Writing (Original Screenplay) – Milk
Great movie, great screenplay (and direction!), awesome speech!

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) – Slumdog Millionaire
Another one that probably can’t be argued against…makes me want to read the novel the movie is based on (Q&A)

Cinematography – Slumdog Millionaire
Again, I could hardly argue against it. This movie was amazingly filmed.

Actor In A Supporting Role – Heath Ledger
I haven’t seen the flick, but I’ve heard all of the hype. The odds were twenty-to-one on his winning. I loved 10 Things I Hate About You

Music (Score & Song) – Slumdog Millionaire
I knew there was a reason that I left the theater and went directly to purchase the soundtrack. The score was great, the song is a winner in my book!

Directing – Slumdog Millionaire
Danny Boyle is utterly amazing and always has been. Pairing him with this project was genius. However, didn’t he have a co-director or something like that?

Actress In A Leading Role – Kate Winslet
I felt like there was an embarrassment of riches in the main categories this year. Meryl almost can’t go wrong, but this was Kate’s year. She was A to the mazing, in my opinion. In a movie that made you think she created a woman who made you think and question even more… brilliant.

Actor In A Leading Role – Sean Penn
Sean Penn wasn’t even in this movie. Harvey Milk played Sean Penn playing Harvey Milk. In a night of great, thought-provoking speeches his was right up there. Way to go!

Best Picture – Slumdog Millionaire
I am very happy. I loved this movie. It is one that I’ll likely buy when the DVD is released. That having been said, I would’ve been just as happy if The Reader, Frost/Nixon, or Milk had won. (Sorry, didn’t see the Button boy flick)

Sidebar: Where were Gran Torino and Clint Eastwood? No recognition? That’s not cool.

Post Office

Living in a small town has many great benefits. Sometime I'll go on and on about why I love living where I do.

However, this is just a quick rant.

Living in rural America has a few disadvantages. One of the disadvantages is that you're very far from shopping, etc. Luckily, we live in an age of catalog and online shopping. (I don't know how people did it here before online and catalog shopping!) Another disadvantage is no door-to-door mail delivery. Yes, I am serious. Where I live one must have a post office box and pick up his or her mail at the post office (which makes said post office the town hub; fodder for another post)

Recently I ordered something online and even paid extra for expedited shipping. Online tracking allowed me to know ahead of time that my package would arrive today, Saturday. (Online tracking also really rocks!)

So, I made a point to go to the post office at precisely noon. (While the counter isn't open on Saturdays, packages are to be picked up between 11:30 and 1:00 pm) When I arrived there seemed to be no one working. In fact, I didn't have any mail in my box. I was annoyed. So... I stopped back a while later. At this point I did have the infamous yellow card in my box (alerting me that a package had arrived!) but no one was there to hand me my item. Now I have to wait until Monday.

Not the end of the world. Still... I am annoyed.

How Important Are Movies?

Used to be that when Oscar night rolled around I had viewed every (or almost every) movie that had been nominated in the major categories. I prided myself on keeping up with these things.

Well, times have changed. Movies aren’t all that accessible for me anymore. In fact, to see any movie I must make a lengthy trek. This year, I decided I would do just that.

First, with no drive involved (I love you, Netflix!) I watched Frozen River. What a great performance. Melissa Leo, I loved you on Homicide: Life On the Street, I heard you were great on All My Children – so I wasn’t at all surprised at how you hit it out of the park in this gem of a movie. Everyone should be renting this DVD.

A few days later I took a drive to see Slumdog Millionaire. Everything I'd heard was true. Do believe the hype!

I absolutely loved Slumdog Millionaire. What a fresh and innovative take on a classic story (two brothers each taking a different path due to their circumstances)… I thought the performances were great and the direction/cinematography were pretty flawless. I have been a Boyle fan for some time and was interested to find out how he shared the directing job (still don’t know enough about this). I also really liked Dev Patel. I’d just been watching him in his BBC series called Skins, which is also pretty amazing.

I thought it was weird when they finally kissed and Latika said something along the lines of, “I thought we’d only be together in death” I wanted to yell at the screen that they were --- Salim’s death!

Later that day I saw The Reader

I didn’t know a lot about the story, and I never read the book. This movie was definitely worth it. Kate W. is amazing. Much like Melissa Leo in Frozen River, she never falls into sentiment. I loved the story and was swept away more than I would’ve guessed. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to see it if I had heard a lot about the story. I am really bummed that I didn’t get to see Revolutionary Road, but I can easily say that I believe that Ms. Titanic earned her nomination and accolades. Like any good art, this movie leaves you thinking and asking tough questions.

A few days later I woke up and wanted more film. So, I drove back down south and took in three (!) more nominated flicks. I am so glad that I did!

First up was Milk. I knew the story and had seen some documentaries about Harvey Milk over the years. However, I was still blown away. Gus Vansant is pretty f-in amazing. Talk about being transported by the illusion (What, your high school drama teacher didn't use that phrase?)! Whoa mama, Gus puts you there. He does this great job of incorporating real footage while making you absolutely forget that his cast is acting. Sean Penn isn’t Sean Penn anymore (same for Emile Hirsch, Brolin, Cross, Pill, etc.). Even though we all know the ending going in, it doesn’t matter at all. This movie is really the whole package. I am probably naive (bigots never have any idea that they're bigoted, eh?) but I would like to think that watching this movie might make people think about what equality really means in our country.

Later on I viewed Gran Torino. This was definitely another exceptionally well done story. Eastwood should have been nominated for his performance. The story itself is great. This is another movie/performance that easily could’ve veered off into sentimentality (and, I guess, it does a bit) but plays it true to the characters. In fact, I felt like Gran Torino, The Reader, and Frozen River were all what real character studies should be. Gran Torino could easily have been another ‘hood movie, but it was so much more.

Speaking of character studies, I have a friend who claims that is why she loved The Wrestler so much. I disagreed with her. Yes, the performances in The Wrestler were great. I, however, found the story a bit disappointing. I guess I've come to expect a bit more from Darren Aronofsky. I think that maybe if he'd been the writer I wouldn't have found the story so predictable.

One move that wasn't at all predictable, in my opinion, was Doubt. Doubt is another must-see. Amazing performances that are heightened by great direction and cinematography. Again, a movie that you'll be thinking about long after your popcorn is gone.

Straight from Gran Torino I went to Frost/Nixon. Perfomances! Wow! Frank Langella is Nixon. How easy it would have been to imitate or caricaturize him (Oliver Platt does that well in the movie!) -- Langella becomes the president. It is a brilliant piece. The guy who plays Frost (I can’t think of the actor’s name) is also great. Like Milk, this film takes full advantage of a documentary style (though I don’t believe any real footage was used) to tell an engaging story. Patty McCormick plays Pat Nixon – I am sure it was the makeup, but boy does she look old! In my brain (also old and wrinkled!) she's still on that dock in the lightning storm!

All-in-all I am so glad that I spent ten hours or so driving to see these movies. I don’t envy any of the Academy voters – there is quite an embarrassment of riches out there. I wish I could’ve seen Revolutionary Road and The Visitor, but I guess I’ll have to wait for DVD on those.

Roses Are Red... Violets Are Blue... I'm...

I've always heard that friendships can be for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. It makes sense in a weird way. You know, some friendships are put in your path to teach you a lesson or help with something in your life. Those friendships may not endure but you're sure glad about them. Other friendships are fleeting; that can be sad. For someone nostalgic (I am too nostalgic myself) those friendships that don't endure can be really painful. As I grow older I am a lot more understanding and accepting that people grow in different directions, not all towards the sun like those time-lapse movies of flowers we watched in elementary school. Usually when a friendship ends it isn't with a bang or a whimper... just a strange nothingness.

The lifetime friendships are pretty strange too. Often there is a friend (maybe more for some lucky people) who has been there since the beginning and continues to be there. However, life isn’t always linear. Sometimes even that lifetime friend meanders in and out several times like a drunk driver heading towards a Denny’s.

I am lucky. I’ve recently been reunited with a friend from the past. There is a bit of euphoria when you find someone who has been missing for a while. That might be a little understated. I’ve been thoroughly thrilled to reconnect. I believe this friendship is one that exists for a reason and will last a lifetime. …makes me smile!