One day sitting in the new chair told me that despite all my careful measuring, it did not fit in the space the folding chair occupied. This meant reorienting my bed.
I don’t like beds jammed against a wall because that position makes it difficult to change the sheets. But I happened on a good solution by moving the cat tree over against the wall. When it comes time to change the sheets, I can push the cat tree out of the way.
Sentinel approves of this new setup.
Since being laid off in March, I have spent 30-40 hours per week at my desk. For that entire time, I’ve been sitting on an Ikea folding chair. This week my body said, “No more!”
The problem with finding a replacement is that the space between the bed and the desk is very small and the Ikea chair works because the back legs can partially sit under the bed. I took measurements and headed out.
(The red sheet that I usually have over my comforter is in the wash.)
At the used office furniture store I looked around and found this cube to help the cats get onto the bed. Sentinel has been using the folding chair to jump onto the bed for months now. I think he can still jump from the floor to the bed if he tries, but I don’t really want him to try. He took to the fabric cube right away.
I also found this little blue chair that does fit in the small space between the desk and the bed. I think? Stay tuned.
Directed by Chris Addison
Written by Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning, Dale Launer, Jac Shaeffer
(One questions how much funnier this film about female con artists would have been had any females been among the writers or director.)
I greatly enjoy both Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson so your payoff* for this female con artist film may vary. But I was in need of a palate cleanser and this silly romp provided a nice cap to my evening.** Astute viewers of con artist films will probably pick up on stuff, but if you’re there for humorous antics by two comedians, it doesn’t really matter the predictability of the plot.
Cost: Hulu monthly fee ($11.99)
Where watched: at home
*See what I did there?
**Also, Alex Sharp was so much fun! He reminded me of early Miles Teller.
When Penny first meets Josephine on a train Josephine is reading the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Alex Sharp, who co-stars in the film, made his Broadway and acting debut in the play that was the based on the novel.
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Written by Ben Wheatley, Robin Hill
The blurbs told me this was a dark comedy and a comedic British version of the Sopranos and at the beginning, I had a lot of “Ah, I can see how that would be funny” moments where I didn’t actually laugh.* However, something shifted midway through and while I never laughed aloud, I did perk up wondering how things were going to play out.** This film has an incredible soundtrack, some of it voiced by star Robert Hill and friends, and if you’re into diegetic performances of folk-style music you might want to look this film up.
(Unless you are in it for the soundtrack or are trying to watch all of Ben Wheatly’s films before Rebecca is released.)
Cost: Free via Hoopla, Multnomah County Library’s lesser streaming service.
Where watched: at home
*It was a trying film because Karl, the main character, is so clearly out of his element and incredibly whiny. His theatrics are not endearing, though the movie made clear how he got that way. I’m also guessing that elements of this film went over my head because I’m from the US, not Britain.
**It also managed to make turn I didn’t anticipate, which I found satisfying.
The two stars are really father and son
(Trivia was a little light)
Kanopy. Quality films for free.
Because they are free, I take chances on Kanopy films. As the Recommended/Good/Skip split indicates, this does not always pay off. But that shouldn’t dissuade you from checking out Kanopy’s lineup which is packed with films I love. To encourage you, here’s a new feature where I highlight movies I’ve loved that you can watch right now. For free!
Directed by Terence Davies
Written by Terence Davies
Oh my god, there’s quiet, and then there’s glacial and uninteresting.* There is passion and then there’s randomly shrieking about stuff while your kind sister looks on.** Plus, acting that reminded me of very dedicated high school students of middling talents*** making for an overall excruciating film.****
Cost: Free via Kanopy
Where watched: at home
*About twenty minutes in, I thought, “Uh oh, this already feels like a long movie.”
**I understand Dickinson’s passion was her poetry and staying true to herself, but I never felt like the movie showed me, or hinted at, what was causing her outbursts. Also, the switch to the older actors early had me very confused at how much time was passing between scenes. Watching fifty-two-year-old Duncan Duff (Austin Dickinson) introduce the wife he married while studying at Harvard was odd, to say the least.
***Catherine Bailey as Vryling Buffam was particularly terrible.
****One nice feature: the Dickinsons sitting for portraits and seeing them age into their older characters. That meant that 50-year-old Nixon played Emily Dickinson from age 20 onward. See above about confusion as to what year it was.
*****The movie included Mabel Loomis Todd, which is the interesting (and titillating) part of the Dickinson family story, but was still boring in this film. There’s another Dickinson film that goes in a different direction. I’ll see if it’s any good. I suspect we’re still waiting for a film worthy of the writer.
Terence Davies first met Cynthia Nixon when auditioning actresses for a comedy film called Mad About the Boy that ultimately never got made.
Directed by Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer
Written by Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer
I need to like the couple at the center of a rom-com, and though I found Maya Erskine* interesting and Jack Quaid** serviceable, I never really got on board with the vibe that they should end up together. The time line is a little jumbled, which takes some getting used to,*** and the Venn diagram of this movie would have it crossing with a Judd Apatow film, rather than a Nora Ephron one.**** I think, ultimately, seeing the couple-to-be only at weddings didn’t give me enough information about them, so I never really committed.
Cost: Hulu monthly fee ($5.99) (my half) (one month, so I could watch Sword of Trust)
Where watched: at home
*I liked the irritation level of her character. Attending a lot of weddings in one’s twenties while single and female is an irritating experience.
**Jack Quaid’s last name might alert you to one-half of his parentage. His blue eyes and wide-open surprised expression will clue you into the other half. My opinions of this movie might be shaped by the fact that in my mind Jack Quaid is ten years old. That he is clearly a fully-grown man had me feeling incredibly old. [Pause for Googling.] I just looked up his age. He’s twenty-eight!
***The directors use a framing device of starting each scene at a wedding with an awkward speech. I loved the awkward speeches, and then was often confused what was happening when the scene started at the wedding before that point.
****The raunch level is high.
Brianne Howey reprises her character of Jess Ramsey from Andrew Rymer and Jeff Chan’s 2008 short film Suckerpunch. They also reprise the gag of using her full name each time she is mentioned.
Okay, so there are still a few things to deal with. Expired emergency food, two bags of shredded paper, But other than that, I have cleared off the porch, hung the bike mount for Matt’s bike, fashioned a makeshift lock situation that I will fix eventually, and now it’s much easier to sweep off the porch.
I bought new water storage cubes. Previously we’d bought three-gallon containers of drinking water at the grocery store which would inevitably swell and burst when temperatures got below freezing. Our storage shed has an exterior wall and is not insulated.
These containers are empty, which means I can empty and refill them myself. It also means that can fill them to a point where even when they do freeze, they will not burst. I also appreciated the sense of humor as displayed by item three of suggested uses.
To manage the expiring food, I have made a spreadsheet. I’ve got one column that has the expiration date and one column that is a month before the expiration date. My plan is to print this sheet, attach it to our wall calendar on the month with the next expiration date. When the calendar turns, I can pull the food and incorporate it into the menu, or put it out in one of the neighborhood food pantry.
By doing this I will hopefully avoid another incident where I only realize the food is expired because of ants attempting to colonize the food storage area.
Directed by Tina Gordon
Written by Tina Gordon
Meet-the-parents-style films are not my favorite,* but this entry provides ample opportunity to show off Craig Robinson’s many talents.** It’s fun to watch a film with a Black cast where the big problem has to do with “fit” with family rather than standard topics we usually get. And you get to see some fun stuff from David Alan Grier and S. Epatha Merkerson, not to mention appearances by Melvin Van Peebles and Diahann Carroll.
Cost: free from the Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home
*I always spend the run-time of the movie thinking, “Mr. Rogers thinks you are good enough just the way that you are, so don’t engage.” Or “This person is not worth it. Run away! Run far away!” This film fell into the “run away” category, thus making it hard to root for the ending I knew I was going to get.
**IMDB tells me he gets steady work, for which I’m glad, but I think if we were in an era where the musical theater nature of actors was better able to display, plus if we valued our talented Black performers, he’d have a much bigger career.
The filmmakers found an existing house in Connecticut that they transformed into the Peeples home complete with details of the family’s ancestry including a painting of Ignatius Toussaint Peeples who lived between 1766 and 1844 that can be seen hanging in the front hall of the home.
Also this:
The cast was constantly singing and dancing on set in between takes, so much so that the producers had to lock the piano during filming.
