Ruminations

This morning I started a new devotional by Joyce Rupp, Open Door. I have gone through her devotional The Cup of Life twice, and was hoping for something new, but similar. I'm already a little disappointed and it's only the first day of six weeks. (My standards are high.)

But she asked what kind of door was our heart. And in my mind, I saw a summer porch, with a screen door. And that seemed to fit. Because I don't like surprises, for the most part. So a door where there are two steps, the screen and the door, getting to me is a two part process, after you've rung the bell. (I am, as everyone who knows me will agree, high maintenance.) Chuckle.

I slept ten hours last night. One of those hours meant that I missed the very last minute of Bones at 8:56ish. I woke up to the new show with Kevin Bacon, The Following, which I'm sure is great TV, and I adore Kevin, but looks much too violent for my taste.

Yesterday I went to the movies. I saw Quartet, which I had first heard about at the Golden Globes and then a friend from Twitter recommended it when I was moaning about the wasteland of movies. (January-February are typical wastelands, due to the awards schedule. All the movies up for awards are still, or back in the theaters, and movies that producers don't care about as much are opened in January. See: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, see Hot Tub Time Machine.) [ed.: Hot Tub Time Machine was released in March of 2010.] [DARN! s.l.]

This year was rich in the rich movies and weak in the weak ones. In past years I have sat through some interesting January fare (see Hot Tub Time Machine) [ed: see note above] [s.l.: darn!], but this year, I went to see Silver Linings Playbook three times and other movies, none. I was contemplating not going to the movies yesterday, as I sat (no joke) in Starbucks with my decaf no whip Mocha and no less than five newspapers, culling out what I wouldn't want to read later, saving all the news about the Oscars. And then I remembered Quartet. I had an odd schedule yesterday, as I had a 6:15 chiropractic appointment, so I couldn't do a 4:00 p.m. movie that was longer than 2 hours. And none existed at my regular Monday theater. So I started to look.

The Manor, a Squirrel Hill film institution (Squirrel Hill being a Pittsburgh neighborhood) had it, but the time looked wrong. I called to find out how long the movie was and their movie line was busy. Darn. My eyes looked eastward to the Waterfront listings, which is where I found a 3:10 showing of Quartet. With my therapy appointment at 2, it would be cutting it close, but that's what previews are for. I still didn't know how long it was, and I was not about to call the movie line of a theater that has 22 theaters. Can you imagine listening through that possibly alphabetical list for Quartet? So I did what any non-smart-phone card-carrying librarian would do. I called work. "Reference desk." "Yes, I'm trying to find out the length of the movie, 'Quartet.'" After a few minutes (or less), she came back with the magic words, "An hour and thirty-five minutes." Blissful sigh. That would give me enough time to drive across town from the Waterfront to Etna for my chiropractic appointment at 6:15.

Quartet, review: To say Dustin Hoffman's debut as a director was a treat would be an understatement. There were moments where I thought, I WILL FALL ASLEEP, as the movie was about sleepy people. The movie took place in a retirement home for aging musicians. I wonder if such a thing exists outside of the imagination of the playwright, but what a wonderful concept! I would only hope I could get into the retirement home for aging writers (Anne Lamott, Judy Blume, Nicholas Sparks) or even the one for people who care about children's books (Anita Silvey, Leonard Marcus, E.L. Konigsburg, Margaret Kimmel, Amy Kellman, Elizabeth Mahoney).

But I digress, where was I? (By the way, that was the way the movie went.) People went in and out of being completely lucid to being completely mad, but were brilliant at it, the entire time. You really had respect for them, even the diva we all hated by the end of the movie, well, because she was SUCH a diva. The credits showed the musicians and publicity photos from their musical youths. So. There were two movies about Brits in retirement homes this year, and Maggie Smith was in both of them. In the one, she was a racist housekeeper needing a hip replacement (The Best Marigold Hotel), and in this one, she was a former opera singer needing a hip replacement. In the BMH, she was the first guest we meet, and in Quartet, she was the last. She shone in both, and I'm glad that I saw both. The two movies have ONLY these components in common: British movie, film adaptation, Maggie Smith needs a new hip, wonderful casting.

What a luxury that this is a post called "Ruminations" and I don't need to do a thing before I leave you but check to see if I should use less or fewer when describing minutes.

Ah, the Grammar Girl has set me straight. Minutes are an exception to the rule. Of course they are, that's what makes English such a delightful language to learn:

"There are exceptions to these rules; for example, it is customary to use the word less to describe time, money, and distance." (Grammar Girl)

And I'm out. Until next time,

Sarah Louise

The Oscars: WOW!

I am just star struck from last night's Oscars.

This year, the movies were very personal to me.

Argo brought up and resolved some issues I had with my father.

Silver Linings playbook (no link b/c I haven't written about it yet, need to fix that!) gave me hope about being a bipolar woman. And I just adored Jennifer Lawrence for being so nervous about her best actress nomination that she ATE the stairs on the way up to receiving her award.

I'll be back with more, probably. But right now, I need to eat breakfast. There's a commercial break on the morning shows (which are all about the Oscars, of course.)

Live tweeting and award shows...the Grammys edition (but ABOUT the Golden Globes)

Growing up, I never was one for awards shows. They weren't something we watched at home. The first time I watched the Oscars was when I had mono as a junior in high school. My mom and I had a fight about it, since she had a problem with me staying up that late. My dad was out of town, as I recall.

The Golden Globes are my favorite awards show. Everyone is sitting around tables, eating, drinking, and it's just as fun to watch the audience as it is to watch the presenters and winners. The first time I remember watching them was January 1995, when I watched them with my boyfriend and got a phone call during a commercial from my boss, saying that I didn't need to come into work the next day because the store's basement had flooded. My boyfriend didn't have work the next day either, because his place of employment (a museum on the North Side) had a flooded basement too. (That was a year of A LOT OF SNOW.)

The next year, I remembered the weekend, since it was the memory not only of the flood but of the Monday following the Golden Globes when I broke up with my boyfriend. At work, the week leading up to the anniversary, I kept saying, remember what last year was? I remember my boss Noah telling me to shut up. And wouldn't you know? The day after the Golden Globes in 1996, water came from our sprinkler system damaging thousands of dollars of books, so we didn't have to come in to work on Monday.

This year, my Internet was out during the Golden Globes, so I "live tweeted" into a Word document. So as I sit here watching the Grammys, I'm going to share those tweets and some other thoughts. Helen and Lilly, see if you can find the tweets that mention you!

To make the tweets a little more interesting a month after a show you might not have watched, I have categorized the tweets and added some links, including video from the show.) 

Tweets from the Golden Globes:  [words in brackets are my notes tonight as I edit this post]

Some tweets about presenters/hosts: (and the opening monologue and highlights are here.)

Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, finally!! [so grateful that it's not that British guy again]

"None of us have PLANS to do porn." [Amy Poehler]

Tina Fey: "The Hunger Games" also what I call the 6 weeks that it took to get me into this dress.

Amy Poehler: "Life of Pi," which is the 6 weeks of blueberry pie after I take off this dress.

Meryl Streep is not here. she has the flu and I hear she's amazing in it.

Some tweets about commercials (which are top shelf b/c it's an expensive show to produce.) 

And here are the commercials that are the first set of expensive ones we haven't seen. Ooh, Cadillac.

How to make a light bulb sexy? Try the new Target ads. "Righty tighty, lefty loosey" in a movie star voice.

Apple, that's a big new ad. The "do not disturb" on iPhone5.

Okay, who thought the apple orchard commercial was going to be for Happy Meals??

Um, followed by "Apple Vacations"? 

Another commercial. Check the internet or no? No.

The everyday collection collection of commercials, yes!! [Target]

Also liking the Discover IT card commercials too. Almost makes me want a Discover card.

That Dart commercial was great. (More heartfelt...congratulate the movies for Best Picture instead, classy.) 

Some tweets about winners:

"We accept this award on her behalf" #1 goes to Maggie Smith.  

Game Change. Ah, a movie I've heard of. (What was the category?) #miniseriesorTVmovie

Heroic Brave Operation=HBO.

Okay, #2 for Homeland, a show I've never seen.

A guy that looks like an older Seth (writer of SNL) (not Rogan) just won for Life of Pi's score.

Jennifer Lawrence, WHOO!!!! [won a Golden Globe for Silver Linings Playbook]

"What does this say, 'I beat Meryl.'" [Jennifer Lawrence, deadpan, reading off the Golden Globe statuette.]

Ed Harris, #2 We will accept this on his behalf.

First award for Les Miz, Anne Hathaway.

And she is freaking out. "that I will evermore use as a weapon against self doubt." And then she goes into a huge thing for Sally Field. Who knew she would be such a gusher. 

Quentin gets screenplay nod. 2nd award for Django, I think.

Not sure I've heard him speak before. [Quentin Tarentino, director of Django]

Clearly he proofreads, b/c speaking is not his thing. "Heavens forbid." "This is a damn surprise, and I'm glad to be surprised."

Wow, Homeland keeps winning them. 

Okay, and this is a show I've never seen, that I might want to. Girls.

"this award is for anyone who ever felt there wasn't a space for her, HBO has made a space for me."

Girls wins again, for best show.

Oh wow, star and executive producer.[Lena Dunham, creator, actor, producer, of Girls]

Oh my, no. Jodie Foster CANNOT be getting a LIFETIME Award. 5 decades????

WOW. And her dress is amazing too.

Woop woop for Jodie Foster for talking about privacy. WOW. Is she really stopping movies?

Another award for Les Miz. (Hugh Jackman)

Wow, can say I have never heard this guy do an award, he's amazing. 

Daniel Day Lewis, OF COURSE. [for Lincoln]

For this, I would stay up. Tony Kushner, Steven Spielberg... [for Lincoln]

ARGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Movie of the year]

This is for them (the people in the diplomatic services, the people that work in the clandestine services.) YAY!!

Some tweets about my broken Internet: 

And it's not bad enough I have no Internet, now my digital TV is pixelating?

Server still not found. (Checking the Internet during speeches of shows I don't watch.) 

Problem loading page. I actually was going to be disappointed--I mean, I do want to share this night, but I'm having fun by myself, and that's good too.  

btw, i'm ready for internet this time...nope, problem loading page. ooh, another commercial (oh, the same one) for Cadillac.

I wonder if Comcast has DSL. 

Problem Loading Page. Ugh. 

Problem loading page. Why did i even think to believe it when it said "excellent?" there is that RED line on the Verizon thing, wish I could look THAT up. Now it's gone.

 Random tweets:

"Call me maybe" to Bradley Cooper from the President of the Hollywood Press Press

"Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."

JOEY HAS GRAY HAIR!! (I mean Matt Le Blanc)

Before Twitter, this is when I found out about all the shows I didn't watch on cable.

TONY MENDEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [He was the Argo CIA operative]

"Do you really know Warren Beatty?" "Yeah, I took a leak next to him at the Golden Globes." [line from Argo]

Oh please let it be Taylor Swift, "Safe and sound."

Well, okay, I know who Adele is, at least. [who won GG for best original song. TS was nominated for her song which was in the Hunger Games.]

You could see that look of frost [from Taylor] when Adele said, "oh we just came out as mums for a night out."

I forgot that Kevin Costner directed "Dances with Wolves."

Bill Clinton!!

(And the room just stood up and lit up.) Everyone is in awe.

He's introducing Lincoln. Wow. That is a bold move.

"What an exciting guest, that was Hillary Clinton's husband."[Amy Poehler]

Wow, Jeremy Irons looks like the guy from Fantasy Island.

Salmon fishing in the Yemen--hmmm.

LOVE LUCY LU's DRESS.

"Because English is a second language for both of us." "How long have you been here? It's embarrassing." [Arnold Swartzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, introducing GG's for foreign films]

"I never thought to get an award in Hollywood by an Austrian." [winning GG foreign film is an Austrian film.]

Ooh, Nathan Fillian.

One more hour???

We all yearn for something, and that something is...the other sock.

Cause everyone loved it, he's forever known as "The writer of The Notebook."

Moonrise Kingdom?

Two hours of late night and 50 cars. (Leno and Fallon)

Please let's go to bed SOON.

Jennifer Garner is SOOOO Cute.

Bedtime soon, plzzzzzzzzzzzzzz?

This is for Helen, who joined Twitter b/c the pope started tweeting. um, and he was mentioned in people who died, so check if he did. [he didn't.]

Anne Hathaway reminds me most of Lilly, which I think she'd love b/c she loves the Lez Miz.

Having George Clooney at the end is good, Meryl Streep was supposed to be here, but under the weather.

Julia Roberts. Where has she been hiding all night?

I would say whoever put this show together did an amazing job.

AND THEY ENDED ON TIME. YAY.