Oklahoma City, OK

In Oklahoma City, at the La Quinta Inn, waiting for a phone call from the desk. The inn is under renovation, not up to others of its kind I've stayed at in the past. Even a dirty towel in the bathroom.

Expenses since I started the trip:

• Petrol in Taos, Santa Rosa and then in Shamrock, Texas (about 10 gallons each time, approx. cost $80.00).
• Didn't buy that much food as I had brought some with me: take in Shamrock and Oklahoma City; approx. $20.00
• Picked up some aspirin, chapstick and water in Shamrock (approx. $5.00)

Movies

Two disappointing movies I saw are Henry and June, the fictionalized version of Anais Nin's diary of the same name. It seemed to be made for the shock value and not the literary content.




Bee Season, one of my favourite novels, didn't work for me. It didn't seem to contain the high impact, emotional jolt that I felt from reading the book.

Movies

More movies, and some I really enjoyed.

Ararat was a wonderful film and so educational. Now of course Armenia and the genocide is in the news with the recent murder of one of the top journalists.

the Hours, a book I had on my bedstand for months, and didn't read, was a wonderful movie and makes me want to borrow the book from the library. The performances were top-knotch.

I thought I was borrowing the movie Dune, but it turned out it was a made for television 3-part miniseries of the same name. I enjoyed it but it is the original I wanted to see again.

Universally 2007 is the a nine year.

Individually 2007 is a 17 (8) year.

The movie today, Monday, 8 January, was rather a disappointment. The Weight of Water as I recall it as compared to this screenplay seemed at odds. But, then again, I am not certain and I don't want to read the book again. Shreve is a rather good writer, but just as I have a zillion movies I want to see--and catch up, there are far more new books I'd like to devour.

The Horse Whisperer, yet another tear jerker on another winter Sunday, 7 January.

Life is Beautiful

It's been eons since I regularly went to the movies, so now I have been renting about 3 to 5 films at a time; trying to space them out and absorb their theme and plot lines. Some of it for the sheer enjoyment others to inspire me to write (again).

One of the last batch I rented included "Life is Beautiful," a film that won many awards and received great acclaim.

It is a stunningly beautiful film, more so for the sensitivity that Bertolini brought to his characters than the visuals. However, during the last few scenes, knowing full well that the protagonist would not survive, I felt this heart-wrenching loss so much so that I could barely watch. Oh, if those of us that fail to see how life is beautiful, it is painful.

The neighbours and I have been sharing some DVDs. The other night they shared, "Life as a House."


Not a great movie, but a movie that makes you think about missed opportunities, loss and gain. The two most interesting issues that came up for me were the idea that love is not all, and how to achieve your goals, even when time is running out.

So many relationships are built on affection, but it appears that is insufficient to make relationships work. A hard lesson to learn!

And as time is such a precious commodity, it is also a lesson to take the rein and run wild on the horse, something I advocate and frequently ignore.

It's amazing how we think we've been there, done that and know it but in watching Gosford Park, I learned or perhaps relearned how society operates on both a conscious and unconscious level.

It was only after previewing Fellowes articulate and intelligent explanations about his screenplay that the essence of the theme and the film itself came to life. Watching the movie, and then the background pieces made this long, but in the end I was grateful to hear about the class system, circa 1930, in Britain not so much for the period but for how much that system has affected the US society--even today. A big eye-opener.

Unbearable Lightness

It's already days, actually last year, December 29, that I saw the Unbearable Lightness of Being." I read the book ages ago, so long ago and so many books since that I barely remembered the plot, or the theme. What it did was remind me of a long ago love relationship with a Czech.

For one brief, but incredible moment we were Valentines. It was 1988, a most memorable year for me, and he came into my life as suddenly as a sharp change in temperature. We met at a bus-stop. We traveled by tramway. We made love, laughed and cried all in sudden, electrifying but unbearable moments. It took me hours to recall his name, or rather the name he called himself. It wasn't his given name but a name he adopted. His life was fierce and unimaginable. My relationship with him mimicked that description, but I was able to recall the feeling I had at the touch of his hand.

It's snowing here in Taos, slowly but steadily and I have no boots. I did go out to get some wet wood to have a fire, but quickly changed my shoes and huddled for awhile under my alpaca stole.

But, I am in an adobe, and can put the heat on (higher). The two climbers that have not been recovered or found alive on Mt.Hood are don't have this luxury. I don't generally pray, but I do light candles. I lite one for the two men yesterday and it is slowly extinguishing. I lite another and it is still going. I had so wishes that although one of the three climbers was found dead, the other two might have made it to some cave. But it is 12 days since they called for help. Twelve days without heat is intolerable to think about. I went one or two days once, out of ignorance, without heat, and I nearly lost my mind. One of the first things that happens is confusion, a kind of disorientation I've never experienced before or since.

We have reached yet another "crucible" - beyond Miller's brilliant depiction of hysteria.

I'm thinking seriously about the PNW, but as it is unfamiliar ground, sometimes I just long for what I know and loved. Like right here:

Another two movies under my belt: Ms. Dalloway and a recent version of Jane Eyre. I borrowed both from the library--a pleasant surprise to find these.

Ms. Dalloway is based on a VW novel, one I apparently never read. Vanessa Redgrave, among my favourite actors played Ms. D. It was a sad story, reflective and filled with a poignant angst. It may have been written, the novel that is, during a period of despondency. I sensed an underlying sense of doom for the protagonist throughout as if she'd take her own life--and yes, VW did in the end.

Rating: 8

The Jan Eyre version I saw starred George C. Scott and Susannah York, a most unlikely duo. It was a shorter version, I think, than some of the other films, and although it presented the main elements of Bronte's story, it seemed somewhat lacking.

Rating: 6

The last of the three movies I rented and saw as Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore's documentary or docudrama, can't recall how this is classified.

A bitter disappointment to this New Yorker. I probably should have read reviews before, or listened more or less closely to those who saw the film. While it started out exactly as I had imagined, it quickly turned to an anti-war tirade and one that didn't seem to hold together thematically.

While a strong anti-War activist (loud-mouth) something about Moore's presentation seemed like a chunk of undigested food in a bad tooth--it hurt.

I'll say no more.

Rating: 6

Following along with the movie updates, after seeing Merlin, my DVD zoomed off to "Logan's Run" an older movie and one I've seen before, perhaps more than once.

If anyone cares to check online you'll see some interesting reviews. One impressed me more than others because it summed up what I suppose draws me to movies like this--hope.

After sheltering or imprisoning all these young folk, a smashing end brings them and the future into the light. I won't go into too much detail, fearing to ruin the climax, but it is the end that carries the movie and it's loose plot

Rating: 8

Perhaps it will be helpful to note which movies I'm watching and keep my whispering memories diary elsewhere.

Yesterday evening I saw "Merlin," a 1998, made for television film staring Sam Neill as the magician. It was not terribly well done but the cinematography was super. The story itself was changed drastically, but with some mercy, from many of the legends and folklore I've read or imagined.

Nimue (nin u-way) and Merlin have a successful relationship. Morgan la Fay dies by the hand or impetus of Maab. And several characters are added for flavor.

Rate it: 7

In the shadow, she said, "only follow your heart."

So this just in from AARP, several days too late for me. http://www.aarp.org/travel/transportation/holiday_flying_tips.html

Angry, frustrated and in tears my yummy yoghurt was snatched from my bag, as I was glowered at by first the crew at Security, and then a 6 foot, 3 inch enforcer. Never have I left the Pittsburgh Airport without losing a leaf from my carry-on. This went too far.

No proper food on board for the first time in all my 40-odd years of traveling I brought some snacks. I had been so encouraged by seeing my daughter carry her lunch to work, it seemed like the right and proper gesture to carry my own food from Pittsburgh, through Chicago, to Albuquerque. No such luck! Foiled again!

It's been ages, more than a few years, that I thought about buying and owning a digital camera and now I finally made the leap and purchased this camera by phone.

I was so surprised this morning when I opened my email and saw that J&R had shipped it out on Friday night.