The tree collard starts I received in the fall have been transplanted and seem to like their new space. I’ve got stakes up so I can keep them from flopping when they get bigger.
And the peas I planted in early March have made an appearance! I love fresh peas, so this is a very exciting development. I’ve been planting every two weeks or so in hopes of having a long harvest.
May 2022. This is a post from the beginning of the pandemic. It’s been sitting in my draft folder for more than two years now. I am publishing it without revising, so please excuse its first-draft form.
My global pandemic low moment came on February 29, (?) when I visited WinCo for my usual twice-monthly shopping trip and found the store that is open 24 hours to be closed to restock due to pandemic over buying. I posted in a snit on Instagram and drove home. I ate my frozen and stored food.
My next visit to WinCo came on 3/14, when I checked both the WinCo website (no information) and the Oregonian to be updated about hours. I drove to arrive for their new 7 a.m. opening, only to find that they now opened at 8. I shopped at Fred Meyer.
Today, I arrived at WinCo at 8 (again, their website was not helpful and I could find no information about hours online) and found that they are currently open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
It was an interesting shopping trip. They won’t be stocking the bulk food section, which is too bad as that was a big draw. But all the fruits and vegetables I needed were present as was nearly everything on my list.
I’m going to have to find a new source for nutritional yeast, for the time being, at least.
I also shopped at Fred Meyer, where they have installed clear Plexiglas shields to keep their workers healthy. I kind of liked them, and part of me wishes they would stay up after the pandemic is over.
The news today is that the CDC *might* ask everyone to wear masks when they leave their houses. I looked online and found a pattern to make one. I’m missing elastic, but if I need to, I can improvise. Meanwhile Matt’s mother gave him a box of 30 masks she had ordered in January, and told him to share them with his friends. We immediately turned around and donated to an organization collecting PPE supplies. “I made some new friends when I donated.” Matt said.
Bulk food! We can still use the bins that dispense, but they’ve cleared out the bins where we dig for things. Also, they’ve shut down the bulk spices which is a big deal in my world. The WinCo bulk spices section gets a lot of use by me.
Fred Meyer doesn’t want people sitting on their display couches. I suspect they’ve never liked people sitting on their display couches and this provided a convenient excuse.
Whoever owns Plexiglas must be making a fortune right now. Here we have barriers at all check stands at Fred Meyer. Also, in the background, one of my favorite checkers.
David Bowie’s “Modern Love” is a bright, peppy song about that has enough repetitive parts that anyone can sing along to the backing vocals, even if they aren’t sure what the song is actually about.
Two articles have two different takes:
“The bright communal joy of ‘Modern Love’ masks a spiritually empty view of life, in which work is the last religion standing. As such, it was a song made for its times.”
Pushing Ahead of the Dame
Then there’s this:
“‘Modern Love’ is about the struggle to find solace in love and religion. David was never one to openly admit too much about his songs, but the title is a phrase occasionally used in gay circles about homosexual love. His spoken opening line, ‘I know when to go out, and when to stay in,’ indicating that he knows when it’s acceptable to admit that I’m bisexual or gay or not because later he sings, ‘never gonna fall for Modern Love.’”
Jon Kutner
Is it a song about work? Or about a certain kind of love? What do you think?
The video is a straight concert video. As Pushing Ahead of the Dame notes: “It was a rock video as tour commercial—don’t miss the giant inflated crescent moon! the horn section wearing pith helmets! Coming to your town next month!”
The song is fun for Karaoke and shines in movies. I’m surprised it hasn’t been used more. Here are four movies improved by “Modern Love”
In this sweet film about Leonardo (Ghilherme Lobo), a teenager who is blind, who finds his world upended when Gabriel (Fabio Audi) shows up in his life.
At one point, Leonardo attends a party where “Modern Love” is playing in the background.
Read the review.
James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) has his summer all planned out: college graduation then Europe with his friends. Alas, the plans fall through and he ends up working at a broken-down amusement park running the carnie games.
Early on, as “Modern Love” plays, he’s doing a bad job calling the Derby Race when Bill Hader gives him advice: “Take it to a 10.” Kristen Wiig does her scene stealing thing in the background.
Read the review.
In Noah Baumbach’s Frances Ha (my top movie of 2013) Greta Gerwig is adrift in her 20s. She would be irritating, if she wasn’t so darn likable. And also, it helps that she’s a character on screen, not your actual friend.
“Modern Love” furthers our love of her character, as she leaps and dances as she runs through the streets of Manhattan on the way to her new apartment in Chinatown. (Her roomates are the very cute Lev (Adam Driver) and Benji (Michael Zegan)
Read the review.
Jason Sudeikis and Alison Brie are a couple who have pledged to be friends and only friends. They do their best in scene after scene, but it becomes apparent to everyone around them that this cannot continue.
“Modern Love” appears when the two attend the birthday party of a friend’s child. They have ingested a specific substance that guarantees they will have a little remove from a teeming horde of kids. When the party seems to be going south, Alison Brie steps in to teach the kids a dance. Movie magic: the kids pick up the dance from the first beat. When she loses focus, Sudeikis steps in with free dancing, while other characters make the point that this platonic thing cannot last much longer. It’s a joyous scene from start to finish.
Read the review.
May 2022. This is a post from the beginning of the pandemic. It’s been sitting in my draft folder for more than two years now. I am publishing it without revising, so please excuse its first-draft form.
Today! A momentous day! After filing for unemployment, I spent the rest of the day working on my things. I had three solid hours of planning Q2 for 3SMReviews and for Keen Eye. While I planned, I felt the familiar exciting hum of “gotta get started”. But I’m trusting that a good section of planning will set me off on the right path.
There was a rat in the back yard today. In broad daylight, sniffing around. It seemed in no hurry, so I eventually opened the door and walked outside to hurry it on it’s way. Even then it was in no hurry and moseyed over to a space in the fence. It may have been a sick or old rat, on it’s way out. Or maybe it will come by every afternoon. From my perch at my desk, I can watch out for it.
I put in 7 hours total today. My goal is 6-10 hours per day. I feel good about my first day, the planning I did, and the variety of things I did. I don’t feel good about the rat.
Also! Last night I had a very long dream that there was an earthquake. In the dream, I did the exact wrong thing–I ran outside and curled up beneath a tree. I spent the rest of the dream chastising myself for not knowing what to do and reminding myself of good earthquake survival tips.
This morning’s Instagram feed was full of news that Idaho had an earthquake!
Christopher Nolan’s Following is embryonic Nolan,* and is a good showcase of what we put up with in the 90s when it came to independent films.** I always enjoy a shifting timeline, so that was a win, but I found that the distance of all of the characters made it difficult to care about what was happening on screen.*** It’s nice to know that better Nolan films were on deck.
(Unless Nolan Completest, or watching to keep up with Filmspotting’s Oeuvre-view.)
Cost: $2.99 via Google Play****
Where watched: at home
*Including its paltry 69-minute (that’s one hour and nine minutes!) run time.
**A lot, including so-so acting. This wasn’t quite the showcase of 90s indie annoyances as Next Stop Wonderland was, but it did have a lot of them.
***The black and white felt like a bit much.
****The median length of a film between 1994 and 2015 is 107 minutes which means this should have cost $1.70 proportionally. (And yes! I just used algebra to solve that problem!)
Principal photography of this film took more than one year. Because all cast and crew members had other full-time jobs they were only able to film about 15 minutes of footage on Saturdays until photography had been completed.
May 2022. This is a post from the beginning of the pandemic. It’s been sitting in my draft folder for more than two years now. I am publishing it without revising, so please excuse its first-draft form.
It was a disjointed day. I dropped Matt off at work at 7:30 downtown, then drove home, then drove back downtown to turn in my computer and bring back all the workstation things. Then I drove home and then drove back downtown at 4 to pick Matt up from work.
I cast about for some way to celebrate the end of this phase of my life. I ended up with a Redbox movie and frozen Mac&Cheese for lunch, plus napping and reading. Matt and I got takeout at Fino for dinner.
I feel tired and wrung out. Tomorrow’s my first day on my own schedule. We shall see how it goes.
The Grizzly Mother
Hetxw’ms Gyetxw (Brett D. Huson) & Natasha Donovan
Read for Librarian Book Group
A grizzly mother and her two cubs show us their life cycle. I found the abrupt jumps in time disorienting, but the subject matter interesting.
The Book Hog
Greg Pizzoli
Read for Librarian Book Group
Officially a story about a hog who loves books. I wonder if there is a hidden (or obvious) commentary about American practices of acquiring excessive amounts of things when we can’t take full enjoyment from them.
Flubby is Not a Good Pet!
J.E. Morris
Read for Librarian Book Group
Our narrator compares a cat to other pets and finds he comes up short. Right up to the realization of what, exactly, makes Flubby a good pet.
Just Ask! Be Different, Be Brave, Be You
Sonia Sotomayor, Rafael López
Read for Librarian Book Group
Sonia and her friends plant a garden and talk about the things they need to do to live and thrive, or things that help them live and thrive.
There were a lot of words for a picture book. Perhaps too many? It was fun to pick out the different children on different pages of the book.
Bilal Cooks Daal
Aisha Saeed & Anoosha Syed
Read for Librarian Book Group
Bilal and his friends learn about daal. There is a recipe at the end of the book, thankfully.
It seems like Bilal livers in a lovely neighborhood chock full of friends and things to do.
Chick and Brain: Smell My Feet
CeCe Bell
Read for Librarian Book Group
Chick is insufferable, trying to get Brain to say please, thank you, and other niceties.
I found this book tedious for that reason and for Brain/Brian confusion.
However, I am not six. Were I, I probably would have found this funny.
Birdsong
Julie Flett
Read for Librarian Book Group
A year in the life of a girl and her elderly neighbor. Soft illustrations
Do Fish Sleep
Jens Raschke & Jens Rassmus
Read for Librarian Book Group
A brief book about the death of a younger brother translated from the German.
Raven Makes the Aleutians
Sealaksa Heritige/Janine Gibbons
Read for Librarian Book Group
Rarely does a picture book feel like I am sitting in a room with a storyteller. This one did. The illustrations are beautiful and I’m curious from the introductory note about the raven stories that are inappropriate for children.
This Promise of Change
Jo Ann Allen Boyce and Debbie Levy
Read for Librarian Book Group
Most novels in verse I tolerate the verse to get to the story. This novel in verse I enjoyed the verse! Plus, it illuminated a mostly forgotten integration effort. I really enjoyed the back matter and the author’s note.
I’m Ok
Patti Kim
Read for Librarian Book Group
Ok’s father has died and things aren’t great. But Ok has a plan to help his mom and make more money.
I loved Ok and I love this story. One of my favorite characters this year.
Prairie Lotus
Linda Sue Park
Read for Librarian Book Group
For everyone who loved the Little House books and yet now find them problematic for a number of reasons.
Hanna arrives with her father in Dakota Territory, but faces ostracism for her half-Chinese, half-white background. She’s got some plans though: graduate high school, and turn her father’s dress goods store into a dressmaking shop.
All the flavor of the Dakota Territory, but with bonus content about fitting in and finding your place when so many don’t want you to have a place.
I’d love a sequel.
Snapdragon
Kat Leyh
Read for Librarian Book Group
This started as a so-so graphic novel, but the story morphed more than once to directions I didn’t see coming that also felt organic.
I love when kids find their niche, especially when it’s an odd niche.
Hearts Unbroken
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Read for Librarian Book Group
Lou Wolfe breaks up with her boyfriend when he disrespects Native people. With time on her hands, she joins the school paper. There, she pitches stories and becomes part of a story when color-blind casting is applied to the school musicals and her brother is cast as the Tin Man.
Stuff happened in this book, but I felt so removed emotionally, it was hard to care. I would have liked to feel closer to the character, but it seemed she was keeping me at arms length.
Apple in the Middle
Dawn Quigley
Read for Librarian Book Group
Reasons this book needs a copyeditor:
In matters of style, the voice of this character felt like a 10–12-year-old, not someone in high school.
A lot of the writing is very conversational—many parenthetical asides and talking to the reader. This makes the book feel very unsophisticated and increased my dislike which is too bad, because I’m interested in the story’s framework of a girl who had not been exposed to her Native American heritage.
Also, her grandparents dialog was great, but got lost by Apple’s chatter.
I’m glad the North Dakota State University Press is recognizing contemporary indigenous voices. It would also be good if they employed some basic publishing standards such as a thorough copyedit, and possibly a better developmental and line edit.
I Can Make this Promise
Christine Day
Read for Librarian Book Group
Edie is half Native American, but it’s not something that is a part of her life. Things happen over the summer to change things up.
After the big reveal, I had a hard time believing that Edie’s mother would have distanced herself for all those years.
Red Hood
Elana K. Arnold
Things I never see in books:
Bisou has a solitary and quiet life. Then one night she is attacked in the woods by a wolf.
Everything changes.
Elana K. Arnold excels at writing about women in contemporary society, even when she’s writing about other things.
Every Other Weekend
Abigail Johnson
An alternating perspective novel about two kids whose friendship grows over the course of the weekends they spend with their divorced and separated parents.
Nicely done!
When the Stars Lead to You
Ronni Davis
This is a relationship book that doesn’t follow the usual trajectory. I could have done without the filthy rich protagonist, but enjoyed the complexity of the romance.
The Voting Booth
Brandy Colbert
This continues Brandy Colbert’s streak of darn good YA novels. In this book we spend a single day with two teenagers trying to vote in their first election. It’s not an easy thing to do.
In Oregon, where we vote by mail, this would have been a few sentences, not a novel. I guess we can thank the country’s inefficient voting process for the inspiration. But I’d rather just have people be able to vote with little muss and fuss.
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital
Lorrie Moore
This was one of those slim volumes of prose where I puzzled if it became a national bestseller without people reading it. The writing was good, but I was reminded how navel-gazing fiction for adults comes across. (Not well.)
All in a Drop
Lori Alexander Vivien Mildenberger
Read for Librarian Book Group
A run-of-the-mill man develops a microscope. I especially loved seeing the microscopes.
(11 movies watched)
High school hi-jinks
Upper-crust hi-jinks
Looking back at Nora
Even greater right this very second.
Zeitgeist viewing!
We seem more apt to lose some than others.
A nice weekend getaway. Supposedly.
Stella Meghie’s The Weekend is a quality film illustrating the difficulties of staying friends after a breakup and the ramifications when you try to buck that system.* Sasheer Zamata’s Zadie is a prickly floundering fledgling comedian** who doesn’t really try to make the best of the weekend away with her ex-boyfriend and his current girlfriend. This movie had a lot of walking and talking, most of which seemed to be orchestrated to move plot along; despite that, it was an enjoyable film.
Cost: $1.80 via Redbox (celebrated my newly unemployed status!)
Where watched: at home
*It’s also an amusing film.
**Sexism alert! I quickly read half of the short synopsis on IMDB (A comedian goes away for the weekend with an ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend). At “comedian” I got a picture of a man in my head which did not leave until several minutes into Zadie’s stand-up routine that opens the film.
