Category: All (-ish)

Three sentence movie reviews–Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Jason Segel seems to be a less raunchy member of the Apatow mafia, so this movie skews a tiny bit older than Superbad, or even Knocked Up’s adolescent humor. One of the things I enjoy about Apatow-influenced movies is that beneath their yucky boy-centric antics, they are willing to explore the feelings of the male species circa 2008. Still not a movie you want to take your grandmother to, but very enjoyable, especially Kristen Bell and Russell Brand.

Matt and I celebrated our sixth anniversary with a double feature of Iron Man and Forgetting Sara Marshall.

Three sentence movie reviews–Iron Man.

“But Robert Downey Jr. IS an alcoholic superhero!” exclaims my friend, and that is the true success behind this movie. Just as Soon I Will be Invincible is the perfect superhero novel, Iron Man is the perfect superhero movie. Funny, touching,–did I mention that Robert Downey Jr. is in it?–fast paced, and with lots of gadgets.

If I had one more sentence I would finish with “Well worth two hours of your time and $10.00 of your money.”

Atonement. Ian McEwan

Atonement: A Novel Atonement: A Novel by Ian McEwan

My review


rating: 4 of 5 stars
I reserved this book from the library right after I saw the movie. Many other people had the same idea and I was number 198 of 198. I had avoided reading the book before I saw the movie because the whole “Booker Prize Winner” thing. I am a lazy reader and tend to stay away from Pulitzers,Bookers, and any other prize that screams “prestige”

That said, I was reminded that my attitude can keep me from some good books, of which this was one. I used to stridently side with “books” in the “movie version of the book” debate, but in my older years I have mellowed. Mostly if the movie people get the story right, I’m pretty happy. When there are changes to the story line I’m intrigued, rather than angry. Reading this book after seeing the movie was like getting a DVD extra. All the thought processes that weren’t able to be translated to the screen were there.

Atonement was gripping and eminently readable and I’m not ashamed to say I stayed home from work and read the entire thing in a day.

View all my reviews.

Shiner!

There are two kinds of people in this world. One kind sees a black eye and says “Oh my goodness, what happened to your eye?” while simultaneously thinking “Domestic Violence Victim!” The other kind sees a black eye and says “Awesome!” and gives a thumbs up.

There are a few of the second kind at my workplace and in other areas of my life. There are many, many, MANY of the first kind. Okay, I don’t know that all of them were thinking “Domestic Violence Victim” but I bet at least half were.
It actually looks pretty good in this picture. It got much darker over the next few days. Oh my goodness what did happen to me? I had a meeting with my U-lock.
As I explained roughly 300 times: (Seriously. Most kids at school, plus their parents, plus other people equals roughly 300.) I was lifting my bike out of my brother’s truck and my U-lock fell off and hit me. It hurt briefly, but it was more painful to recount that story again and again and again.

When I went inside and grabbed ice for my eye, Matt became the first to ask the question. After I explained our conversation went thusly:
Matt: Sweetheart! People are going to think….
Me: I know what people are going to think.

It only becomes funnier when you know Matt’s vocation. He is a counselor for domestic violence abusers.

I think the amount of concern affected my health. I developed flu-like symptoms over the weekend and had to miss church. I was a bit relieved. It saved me 30 more times of telling the story.

Read in April

blah blah blah
What I meant to say up there when I wrote “blah, blah, blah” was that my measly book reading this month had to do with my math class, etc. Still, what few books I read were quite good. Also, I notice that I didn’t spell check before posting. I am completely out of practice.

Finished
The Running Mate
Joe Klein

The Rope Walk
Carrie Brown

The Abstinence Teacher
Tom Perrotta

Started but didn’t finish.
Think Like a Cat: How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat–Not a Sour Puss
Pam Johnson-Bennett
A really great guide to bringing your new cat home and living happily with it. Johnson-Bennett covers everything from getting down on your knees to see things from kitten height to encouraging daily play sessions to helping solve problems such as spraying and clawing furniture. I didn’t make it through this whole guide before it had to go back, but will get it again when cat ownership is closer to my future.

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades: The Complete Guide to Organic Gardening
Steve Solomon
I. Love. This. Book. As you might have guessed by the title Solomon thoroughly explores how to grow things if you live west of the Cascade Mountains. Our climate over here is different than the rest of the US and so a lot of general gardening guides don’t work for us, for instance, mulching with hay or leaves around a plant will bring the slugs a chomping.

While not a how-to guide, Solomon has many handy items included in this book: a month-by-month planting guide; advice NOT to do a soil test as well as the organic fertilizer he recommends you stir up yourself and use; instructions for planting your garden so you never have to water it; a 4-5 year rotation of land to avoid insect infestations.

This guide will be by my right hand when planning my garden next year. The only drawback I could find was that reading it made me long for more ground in which to grow things.

Didn’t even start.
Psycho Kitty: Understanding Your Cat’s Crazy Behavior
Pam Johnson-Bennett
This is probably also a good guide, but I had my fill of Johnson-Bennett’s other cat-raising guide. This book had more actual case studies. I will reference it in the future.

Letters written in April

Two things paid off this month. My LEX membership proved itself well worth the $15.00 joining fee. Without it, I would not have had eight letters in my mailbox. Also my friendship with Sara. Six items from her appeared in my mailbox including a very nice care package with some stationery, postcards and an eraser. An above-and-beyond level of support as far as I’m concerned. Thanks so much.

Also this month the resolution morped into “write a letter most days” as there were 8 days of 30 where I did not write for various reasons. I’m not really beating myself up about it too much as I had the resolution, the garden and the math class going on. And full time work.

Note that my SAPE letter came back as undeliverable. I’m okay with that as LEX has brought me great dividends, but in case any of you were pining for a pen friend from the former Soviet Union, you should know that SAPE didn’t work for me.

AND this month I finished off my first tablet of writing paper. It’s the 200 sheet lined- jobber that we always had around when I was growing up. I like the size, it is great to hold onto when writing on the train or bus, and the less-than-$3.00 price is right for me.

Without further ado:
1 April. Sara
2 April. Sara
**Care package arrives from Sara
3 April. Elizabeth Gilbert
**postcard from Sara
4 April. LEX “Please, sir. More lighthouses, more bridges.
**postcard from Sara
5 April. LEX “Arm chair traveler? Let’s trade p/c’s of our trips. -Bob.”
6 April. No one.
7 April. No one.
**letter back from Sara
**letter back from LEX Blogging (wrote on 3/13)
8 April. LEX “Ah, spring! When all thoughts and letters are fresh and new! As we throw off winter, let us LEX together in the warm sunshine!”
**letter back from Jenna
9 April. LEX “Will you make a good old person?”
**letter back from LEX “Topic letters”
10 April. LEX “Must one suffer before one can write?”
**letter back from LEX “ready to discuss serious subjects”
11 April. LEX Jan. Topic Letters.
11 April. Postcard to Trimet re: really cool bus driver.
**letter back from LEX “Favorite Food”
**letter back from LEX “Movies”
12 April. April, Sara, Shawn. (Winners in my comment contest.)
13 April. Jess, Kathy. (Winners in my comment contest.)
14 April. Sara
**letter back from Sara
15 April. LEX Diane. Movies.
16 April. Sara
**SAPE application returned.
**Also of note, finished first 200 sheet writing tablet.
17 April. Jordan. Birthday Card.
18 April. No one.
**letter back from Trimet.
19 April. No one.
20 April. Marilyn Sewell. Senior minister at my church re: sermon “Is Marriage Obsolete?”
21 April. No one. (my notes say “exhausted”)
**postcard Sara
**card from Kathy thanking me for the prize sent on 13 April
**letter back from LEX Jan
**letter back from LEX “Favorite cities, travels, rivers, campgrounds.”
22 April. Sara
23 April. Diane.
24 April. Sara.
**postcard Sara
25 April. No one.
26 April. No one.
27 April. Jenna.
28 April. Sara.
**letter back from LEX Diane.
29 April. No one.
30 April. Sara

Menucha. Why I love it so.

Every April, the Religious Educators at my church gather for a retreat at Menucha. Menucha is a retreat and conference center in Corbett, Oregon, right on the Columbia River Gorge. At one time Julius Meier (of Meier and Frank Department Stores) owned the land, but now the First Presbyterian Church of Portland owns the 100 acre property.

I love Menucha. It is beautiful and quiet and the food is fabulous. As in previous years, I was happy just being there.

A pictoral tour:

The main hall where all the food is served. At one time this was the Meier house.

There are all sorts of ways you can wander around Menucha. This path is opposite the main house.
View, including a tiny bit of the Columbia River Gorge.
There are many huge trees that are good for climbing.
This is Ballard Hall, where we stay.
Huge trees!
With low enough branches for climbing.
More meandering pathways.
The labyrinth. It is almost done. It has taken many years to get this far.
At a place where you can look out over the Columbia River Gorge, there is this stone fireplace and a swimming pool.
We are always there when the swimming pool is empty.
Looking over the Gorge. From here you can see Crown Point, though not in this picture.
Snow on the mountains.
This time there were poems hanging from the trees.
This tree looks to be a good place to read.
We meet in this big room.
The view while eating meals. The bread and the strawberry jam there are divine.
Meal time.
Sleeping quarters.

Three sentence movie reviews–American Graffiti

I watched this movie first when I was 13 and fell in love with it so I have seen it many times. Viewing it now, I am simultaneously seeing it at ages 13, 17, 19, 22, 27 and 33. I saw it at a retreat and there were more people watching it by the end of the movie then at the beginning; it’s a magic movie that way–it pulls people in.

End of building.

Though I love old buildings pretty much unequivocally, there is some part of me that feels a thrill when I see them being demolished. Demolition work is probably pretty satisfying–especially if you can’t hear the clarion call of history whispering to you as you wield your heavy machinery. You come to work in the morning, you pull down a roof or a wall and at the end of the day, there is less building. This continues until there is no building and you move on to the next soon-to-be-gone building.

Progress continues on the tearing down of the Dental Arts Building and block. I took a “before” picture and posted it here.

One of my favorite things in cities is to read the old, painted advertisements on the sides of buildings. On the east side of the Dental Arts building is a very large ad for Zell Brothers, the store that was on the other end of the block.

Amazing Internet discovery! Someone else in Portland loves building ads too. They have a whole blog devoted to it.

A view uninterrupted by trees.
It was a windy day and the strips of detritus hanging from the ceiling were blowing in the wind.
And the wind rustled through the blinds in this window.

That part of me that loves destruction thrills at the Mercantile awning crumpled on the sidewalk in this picture.

See wind invade the building:

And watch it blowing the blinds: