No Doubt about The Reader…

Last evening James and I went down to Indianapolis to the Landmark and saw both The Reader with Kate Winslet and Doubt with Meryl Streep and I can’t rate each of the films high enough.

In the case of The Reader, Kate Winslet brings to life the co-protagonist of  Bernhard Schlink’s 1995 German novel, Der Vorleser, Hanna Schmitz who first meets newcomer David Kross’s Michael Berg, a young student she discovers ill on a street near her apartment on his way home from school. Kate Winslet is fantastic throughout as the emotionally reserved, yet caring, Hanna who engages in a passionate, yet short lived, affair with Michael. One must quickly get past the fact that Winslet and Kross are entirely nude, perpetually, for the first half of the film.  Certainly, it’s attention grabbing and Winslet is, as always, beautiful, despite clear efforts to make her appear plainer. Kross, as the adorablely cute blonde haired, blue eyed German boy, holds his own.

Yet, despite all of that artifice, it was the performances themselves which keep you wrapt to the screen, Winslet’s Hanna, harbors a great many secrets which have left her both emotionally distant, and more heartbreaking, emotionally starved. Winslet, despite being considered a “supporting” character, carrys the film in her glances, her grimices, and her, very few, smiles. For both Kross and Winslet this film is as much about what they say as what you must read that they cannot say.

Kross, it is interesting to learn, was required to learn English to play Micheal for the film, a fact that one finds all the more fascinating as his English is, amazingly, good. Ralph Fiennes carries on where Kross’s youth makes him unbelieveable as Micheal, but for the brevity of Fiennes’s role, you wholly believe he is Micheal and his love for Hanna burns as strongly as the day her met her.

Something must be said as well for the makeup department, making Kate Winslet age throughout the film; despite the seven hours a day it required to age Winslet, it, clearly, was worth every moment. Interestingly, 11 years ago James Cameron thought it unfit to age Winslet to 101, yet here, years later, I can only wonder what difference it would have made with Winslet as “Old Rose”… I can only imagine she would have pulled it off brilliantly.

Titanic was 11 years ago. I was 11 years old when I first saw it, and, in all honestly, I have adored Kate Winslet ever since so, to see her character is such pain, to see her age over the course of a two hour film, I found, grappled with her fantastic performance, almost beyond personal endurance. I couldn’t help but feel Hanna’s loneliness and isolation; I walked out of the film covered in tears in a complete daze. Never have I been so touched by a film.

Dear God if she doesn’t get that Oscar, there is fundamentally something wrong with the world!

Read Full Post »

Anger, hurt, resentment…

Today I had an argument.

Question: Is a lie any less painful when you find you’ve been lied to months after the lie?

Does it still make sense to be hurt, to feel resentful, to be angry? Even when the real truth isn’t painful, when the real truth would have been simple and nonobjective, yet the person who lied felt they needed to? felt they couldn’t trust you?

I think so, I don’t think it matters that things may have changed, that life moves on. A lie bread of lack of trust still hurts.

I’m not angry. I’m hurt. That makes it worse.

Read Full Post »

The Magic of Words

I find that my posts are random, and maybe only for myself, and maybe that’s why no one comments, yet I know there are people out there reading. Some have emailed me, others are my friends.

The more I write this blog, the more I guess I find why I write it. Sometimes, the best way one can express him/herself is to do so in writing just to let it all go and get it out of onself. I did much the same thing in high school. At first I had a journal, and then I slowly got into the world of blogging, it was a Xanga then, which, I believe, is still up. (xanga.com/cedict) Don’t try to see it unless you’re willing to wait; it continually freezes.

Now; I’m here. These blogs are random, idiosyncratic, personal, and general all at once. I make no promises with it as I really don’t know what I’ll say because I don’t know what I have to say. It’s a venting space. everyone needs a venting space.

Earlier today, I was thinking about writing letters, and opposed to sending text messages or phone conversations. I like letters, they’re personal, yet collected, yet somehow different. I write letters to people with whom it may be too personal, or insignificant, to call. I like letters.

Read Full Post »

That’s my bag!!!

Ok, so… it seems to be becoming a regular thing in my life to lose luggage, or be privy to others losing luggage. Flying to London in October 2006 I was try fly from Indianapolis to Detroit to London (Gatwick). Well, coming out of Indianapolis we were delayed, for an hour on the tarmack, because of storms in Detroit. Landing, finally, in Detroit I ran, and I mean ran, to my my gate to catch the flight to London which, due to storms, had sat at the gate an extra hour or so, thankfully. Never the less I had to run from my Indianapolis gate to my Detroit gate to make the transfer and was, most likely, the last person on the plane. So I was, understandably, hot and sweating.

Nine hours later, landing in London, I was informed that my luggage never made the transfer and was left in Detroit but would, of course, be on the next plane out and I would have it later the same day. Unfortunately for me, they gave me no form of toiletry bag, and my luggage didn’t arrive for almost two days. Stranded on the opposite side of the world with no luggage… what a nice excuse to go shopping!

Last evening, history seemed destined on repeating itself as James came in from Denver, yet, his luggage did not. Somehow Fronteir left an entire cart of luggage on the tarmack in Denver, which forced us to wait almost an extra two hours for everyone to fill out missing luggage forms. Almost 30 people on the flight were left without luggage…

Seriously… this type of crap shouldn’t happen this regularly! James and I flew all around Europe and never were our bags misplaced. Although we did miss a flight due to a delay caused by too many bags on a small plane in Germany… But that’s quiet another matter entirely.

Read Full Post »

Grim Grinning Ghosts… not so much

So today was meant to be simple… It’s my weekend to work the reference desk so the librarian can take a lunch break, and then come back later to close the place. It’s not exactly challeneging or demanding. So, I thought, since James is returning home tommorow after spending his Christmas holiday with his mother in Colorado, I’d clean the place up a bit on my break and finsih up once I go home. Not that I’ve exactly dirtied the place up, but a freshly clean home is always nice to return to.

Anyway, I was cleaning away, made the bed, put away all the laundry, cleaned some dishes, and I was working on sweeping the carpet in our bedroom when I saw a man, in a large overcoat, walk down the hallway into the spare bedroom. Now, this isn’t exactly the first, or second, time I’ve seen a ghost. My grandfather used to visit me when I would sleep in my grandmother’s spare bedroom occasionally when I visited her. Also, this isn’t the first time we’ve felt a presence in our apartment. It’s not regular, but it’s not entirely out there either. James not too long ago felt that he felt a presence following him and whispering as he locked the front door before bed. After I saw the man, I went into the spare bedroom to see if anything had been moved, and it looked to me that nothing had been touched. Nevertheless, it was slightly unnerving !

James has advised me to spend the night with my parents… Perhaps rightly so.

Read Full Post »

“Do I look like a ‘ma’am’ to you?”

During my first shift at work today (I come in to cover the desk so the weekend librarian can take lunch) someone “ma’am”ed me. Ok.. lets examine this… Yes, I have shoulder legnth wavy brown hair, I’m tall, and I’m slender. I’ve been told I look androgenous, which I suppose is a compliement of sorts, but, hey… I’m still a guy. Oh well; I guess it’s just a confirmation of the aforementioned. The funny thing is, I helped the guy at his computer and he never apologized. Perhaps he was embarrased, who knows. A very funny/ weird moment to say the least!

Read Full Post »

Taking in the play before the play…

Last evening, in the matter of an hour, I read A.R. Gurney’s play “Love Letters.” Being the same play I will be seeing with Barbara Eden on Valentine’s Day, I felt a matter of responsibility in gaining some degree of familiarity with the work, as to make its viewing more straightforward and less quizzical. That is, live theater, often, will lose me if I don’t have at least a basic knowledge of plot. I will, almost always, read a work’s source material before a viewing. Films are different, with films, I can usually follow along fairly easily, but with live theater, I’m always paranoid I’ll miss a line, or a cue, and be left bewildered. In high school I went to see Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and couldn’t have been more confused! Granted, that’s Shakespeare, and Shakespeare is, well, Shakespeare. But I had the same thing occur when I saw a local production of “Cats.” Don’t misunderstand, I quite enjoyed the music, particularly “Memory”, of course. But, the plot is still a complete mystery. Verbatim can be said of “Aida.” I get enchanted with the costumes and the lights, and forget to figure out the plot!

Other works, of course, society itself prepares you to see, among them: “Les Miserables,” “Wicked,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Mary Poppins,” etc. All of these, I’ve seen in London, although, me being me, I will admit I did read “Phantom of the Opera,” translated from the French, long before seeing the musical, and I’ve tried, on a few occasions, to approach “Les Miserables,” but I’ve yet to venture far into the novel.

Read Full Post »