Moving

I got a whole lot of this going on lately...


Thanks to Brian for the from-the-Subaru view of I-10. :)

My blog, email, and other electronic communications will be slowed or halted over next 5 weeks as I am in transit and/or vacationing. In case you care and/or need to be in touch with me, I will be in Northern California and mostly reachable July 12-18.

Wanderlust

I'm sure there will be no shortage of people to oblige me...

Next time I decide to move--no, next time I decide to drag out moving over a matter of weeks and months, just kick me. Or shake me. Or take the keys out of my hand and drive the car to wherever it is next headed and get on the phone and cancel all services that keep me complacent.

I would feel a heck of lot better on this particular move if either David or I had paying jobs to look forward to when it ends. But no, we each have job searches and further housing decisions to make. And both of the cars have had lots of little things needing fixing, only reminding me of their mortality, which is not a good time paired with above reality. So the move is only part of larger issues. Ack!

My venting sounds worse than I actually feel (most of the time), but it has been a bad few weeks. I don't mean it to sound like I'm miserable--I'm a fundamentally happy creature. And I certainly am not any closer to hating moving. As David can attest, even with all the hiccups of our latest cross-country "relo" I do not swear off another major move. I will, however, admit that moving is very tiring and tedious and requires a lot more shedding and compartmentalizing of belongings in a timely manner than is my natural preference.

So, I am stressed and anxious. I desperately want more of a routine and predictable places to be and sleep. I want a functioning computer. I want to load my music onto my new iPod. I want a bathing suit that is not becoming see-through. I want the rest of my life to get going.

I'm going to take a nap now. :)

Dying young

News came recently that the Sci Fi channel's version of Battlestar Galactica, which at first I could have cared less about, may end after its next (fourth) season. Sad news now that I'm so into it, but better that it end early than late. I've long been upset that My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks and Arrested Development and countless other fabulous shows were cut off due to low ratings. But then, their early departure leaves them remembered in their prime. There is no keeping a show after it has faded into a shadow of its former self, no awkward aging among young casts, no cousin Oliver joining the family, no shark jumping, no finding out it was all a dream ending.

Carrie Bradshaw ended up with Mr. Big on Sex and the City. The MASH gang for better or worse went home. Aeryn Sun and John Crichton got together; granted their love was fulfilled, if you will, during a horrid Farscape follow up finale movie but still, it ended in the right place, the expected place, the fulfilled place. The Lost crew have called their own end date. I can appreciate that--know when to quit and how to get there. This is how endings are supposed to occur, no matter the twists and turns along the way.

I don't require perfect endings, but I admit it's tough to grieve for a show or cherish for eternity a movie that ends on an illogical low note, or which just sputters to a hasty conclusion of sorts. A tragic ending done right is a good thing and satisfies that part of me which acknowledges life is not all about happy endings. Closure is a good thing.

David and I used to watch The Sopranos. I'm somewhat thankful I have had only limited access this final season. The episodes I saw were too depressing, with too little (none?) of the occasionally silly, oft amusing tidbits thrown into dialogue and storylines that I so reveled in in the early seasons. Now after a depressing season, the finale is vague about Tony's future, doesn't create closure.

The nebulous closing out of The Sopranos works for me, primarily because it offers me the chance to hope. The show was based in a violent, sexist, vengeful, self destructive existence. Do I really want to see how a mob boss's life ends out, no matter how sympathetic a character he may be at times? Okay, it's better to leave Tony alive, ailing as he was at the start of the show, than to kill him off or imprison him and leave his family in limbo as reality might dictate. That would be too depressing. I couldn't easily watch reruns without thinking, "What's the point, he dies anyway?" But it doesn't leave you crying in your wineglass either, so I suppose on balance it actually ends on an up note, a hopeful note. (Clearly, I am in a glass-half-full kind of mood.)

Hmm, maybe I truly yearn for endings that are going to be overtly happy or at least let me live with delusions of happiness. Goodness, what an escapist sap I've become. :)

Snappy

I have not seen Pirates...At World's End because I inadvertently read the entire plot online and spoiled the story for myself. I am not a fan of knowing endings before the end. Hmph. Luckily there are other box office temptations to kick off my summer. Herein I offer reviews of two other likely-big summer movies. Enjoy.

Knocked Up
Judd Apatow is at it again, offering up a mix of semisweet storylines and clever adult humor that doesn't assume your funny bone is stuck in seventh grade. Knocked Up tells the story of the coupling of Alison (Katherine Heigl, aka Izzie), a reporter for E! entertainment news, and Ben (Seth Rogen), a man-child trying half heartedly to make a job of spotting nude scenes in movies. While the drunken-stranger-sex-leads-to-pregnancy plot is run of the mill, there are some hilarious moments and characters. David and I both enjoyed Ben and his friends (most are Apatow film/tv vets) busting on each other, and Alison's fantastically deadpan work competitor, Jill. I would happily watch this movie once more on DVD for the dialogue. Most of the characters are reasonably compelling and/or amusing, but the highlight here is Seth Rogen's Ben, who's insecure and cynical but good hearted. I don't agree with the critics who seem to want to have Apatow's baby for making Knocked Up, but it is certainly solid summer fare, an extension of those great 80's teen summer flicks. Knocked Up is recommended to those with a tolerance for crude humor seeking slightly grown up entertainment with no commitment.

Alison Scott: I'm pregnant.
Ben Stone: Pregnant... with emotion?

Ocean's Thirteen
Atrtactive from beginning to end, the latest in the casino heist movie chain is a visual feast. Should you care about the storyline, it might please you to know this one's much better than the last; it's also, I might add, prettier than the first. The entire male gang is back, from dishy smooth Danny Ocean (George Clooney) to the inventively troublemaking Malloy brothers (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan). This time the guys have taken it upon themselves to cheer their bedridden mentor, Reuben (Elliot Gould), by seeking revenge on his behalf. Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin join the cast (the latter as the only significant female in the story). Does anyone care why or how the story unfolds? There's a strong "What happens in Vegas..." feel to Ocean's Thirteen. The length, pace, and plausibility each have their decided ups and downs here; there are enough fun moments and Hollywood in jokes (Clooney tells Pitt to settle down and have a couple kids) to keep you chuckling. But it's the look of the movie that I enjoyed most--varied camera angles, striking colors, gorgeous actors. Not a bad thing to stand out, all in all.

[Virgil is attempting to hack into a computer system while Turk looks on]
Turk Malloy: Are you in yet?
Virgil Malloy: I hate that question.

Boston

Last week in Boston with the family (that's Ben, right, at pre-graduation dinner -- pondering future?) I picked up this magnet entitled "The tahp ten things to look out foha in Bahstun". I achieved two of them on this trip: #10 "Pahl Reveah's silvah at the Museum of Fine Ahts", and #5 "Fenway Pahk" (both self explanatory, I hope). I spent a fair amount of 1994 in "Summahvul" (part of #3, aka the city of Somerville) but in all my stays in Beantown I've missed out completely on #4, "Bahgins at Neiman Mahcus" (you'll have to figure that one out on your own). Anyway, if you'd like to see pictures from our recent jaunt to Boston, go to my picture pages.