There are so many things to say about this expertly acted and very interesting movie. However, I have only three sentences. Thus, I will tell you that the performances of Rebecca Hall* and Bella Heathcote are impeccable, and that Angela Robinson’s directing skills made for a superb movie.
Cost: free for me, (birthday “dinner”) some insane amount of money paid by Matt.
Where watched: Regal Fox Tower, with Matt.
*Looking over Rebecca Hall’s filmography, it seems she’s in a lot of quality flicks. She might make a good candidate for an all-filmography project.
This house used to sit near the corner of SW Main Street and SW 13th. That location is very close to the First Unitarian Church, so I used to see it often, coming and going from and to church. During that time, it seemed to go from minimally occupied, to unoccupied, and I crossed my fingers that it would survive as it has incredibly good bones.
As you may guess from this photo, it did! It was moved to a grand location where it overlooks the cars exiting 405. The Oregonian covered the move (because who doesn’t love a good house moving?) and you can read the September 30 story about the moving of the Morris Marks house by clicking this link.
Earlier in the month, I helped out with a retreat at Brasada Ranch. One of the perks of that trip was that I got to rent a car and drive there myself. I do love a good solo road trip. I wasn’t as efficient at getting out of Portland as I wanted to be, so I didn’t properly prepare for my musical selections on the trip. It was radio all the way.
And so I invented a game. Once my known stations faded (which didn’t take much time at all, thanks to Mount Hood) I scanned until I found a song* and then I would stay with that station until it faded, or there was a commercial break. Then I would scan again and repeat the process.
*A song that wasn’t classical, smooth jazz or Christian. (This is because I need words to focus on–thus no classical or smooth jazz. And those words have to not supremely bug me, thus no Christian.)
This turned out to be quite a fun game that progressed in a predictable manner. I heard a lot of country music.** I’m pretty sure I heard more country and top-40 music on that trip than I have heard in the last few years. At one point, I came into a station where the DJ told me, “We’re in the middle of 10 songs of uninterrupted country music,” and I’m pretty sure by “the middle” she meant, “I’ve maybe played one song” because that was a very long stretch of uninterrupted music.
**And also unpredictably, when I got stuck on a reggae segment on the Bend public radio station. No commercials on public radio, so I had to wait for that station to fade.
It was interesting comparing the themes of the country music world. There was a lot of talking about how much they like the rural environment. There was a ton more talk about god. There was a goodly amount of flag waving. I found myself charmed with Phil Vassar’s “Just Another Day in Paradise” which was a nice picture of real life. (Looking at the video Phill Vassar is a very regular-looking guy. Oh! Apparently this song is 15 or so years old)
I also enjoyed the parallels between top-40 and country music as when I head the Chainsmokers Honest, which is about how the guy isn’t so much into the relationship any more. That paired nicely with a country song that I can’t find via googling. In it, the guy is singing to the current girlfriend/wife saying that he’s skipped town with a new girl who gets him in a way the current girlfriend/wife never did. Unlike the Chainsmokers song, I didn’t care much for that one.
I also discovered this gem of a song called “Tennessee Whisky” which is nearly as old as I am. (There’s so much music in the world!) I’m pretty sure I heard the version by Chris Stapelton, who has a great voice. I also enjoy the lyric, “I stay stoned on your love all the time.”
At the end of the month (two days after this post was written, if these posts were written in real time) Kelly and I went to see John and Hank Green as part of John’s book tour for Turtles All the Way Down. They ended the show with the Mountain Goats, the band that John is a super fan of. And 2017 does seem to be an appropriate year for the lyric, “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me.
I’d been wanting to see this ever since the Next Picture Show paired it with This is Spinal Tap for their podcast. Having finally seen it, I can report that this movie is hilarious enough that I laughed aloud while watching it by myself. The cameos are reason enough to watch this movie,* although the songs are a close second.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.**
*And I say this as a person who is fairly unaware of the modern pop music scene, and had only vaguly heard of many of the people in the cameos. If I found them funny, someone with more knowledge will appreciate them even more.
**I floated this as a possible in-theater movie experience to Matt and he rejected it, saying it sounded dumb. But when I put the movie on while he was in the room, he was quickly sucked in, laughing even harder than me, and only reluctantly left for an appointment. The next day he picked up where he stopped and watched the whole thing in one sitting–which is a rare thing.
This is a souvenir from Sara’s trip to New York City. She traveled there with her husband, parents and sister for a short autumn vacation. They stayed in an actual brownstone (Air B&B) and, among other things, took in the old-school dioramas at the museum. (I love a good diorama.)
Anyone who knows me in person, knows that I make a big deal out of my birthday. I suspect some people think I make a big deal out of my birthday to extract presents out of people, but that’s not the purpose. I just like it being my day.
That said, look at the very cool present my friend Kelly got me! It’s a poster of 100 Essential Films, but it’s also a scratch off chart! Look how shiny it is!
And here’s what’s cool. When the image is scratched off, it morphs into something else. Take the tea cup that is a big part of the film Get Out.
When scratched, it reveals the fact of Daniel Kaluuya. So fun!I have already seen 66 of 100 films. My plan is to watch a film on the list I haven’t seen, and scratch that one, plus two I’ve already seen. I look forward to working my way through this list.
Kelly also always writes a birthday haiku. I found this one to be particularly sweet. Thanks Kelly!
In my opinion, Ansel Elgort ruined The Fault in Our Stars and I’ve been annoyed by his presence ever since. Until this movie, in which he has redeemed himself with his portrayal of Baby. In fact, nearly everything was amazing about this movie, most specifically the combination of music and film, which Wright does in a way that elevates this particular movie art.*
Cost: $4.00
Where watched: Laurelhurst, with Matt.
*This is a movie of pure delight and pure terror.** Jamie Fox was particularly captivating.
**This is also the last time I watched Keven Spacey and thought of him as nothing more than a good actor, rather than a predatory jerk.
I had a good time celebrating my birthday with my family. Aside from checks, I also received these lovely items. Women’s World is a magazine my mother knows I love to hate. When I worked in the library during college, my boss bought a copy weekly, which I would read during my Friday night shift. Twenty years later, I continue to marvel that every single week they manage to have a cover with both a promise of rapid amounts of weight loss, and also a complex cake-like treat to make.
Most of my birthday money went to help meet my Payoff! goal, but stay tuned for the thing I did buy.
I made two cakes for the September/October birthday celebrations this year. Usually we have two celebrations. Chris and my Aunt Carol come first, and then mine. This year, Chris and Aunt Carol opted out of a celebration, so we kind of celebrated all three birthdays at once.
Because Chris doesn’t like chocolate I made this Honey Bee Cake. It’s a buttermilk cake with a honey glaze. Baking it, I was reminded that I’m not the greatest fan of honey’s super-sticky properties. The cake itself was quite good.
This was the chocolate choice of the night. It’s a Jam Cake with Caramel Chocolate Ganache. I didn’t quite get the caramel right, so the taste was very faint. Other than that, this was a moist, lightly spiced cake. I’ve made a lot of the cakes in the Vintage Cakes cookbook. We’re down to the ones that either have an ingredient I can’t justify purchasing, (The Harvey Wallbanger, which calls for 2 tablespoons of Galliano) or the ones that don’t appeal to me (Bananna Cake with Coffee Walnut Buttercream.) Looking over the table of contents, there are a few more I want to bake, but this project is tapering off.
Here we are looking at the corner of Davis and 10th. This is the block I’ve been watching change. Currently, there are two dump trucks on the block itself and three waiting. Excavation is always the first part of the high-rise project. And here we see the actual excavation. This reminds me both of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, and Fuel by Ani DiFranco, that stalwart of my late 90s/early 2000s experience.
