Wednesday, June 30, 2004

A Movie On My Own or A Girl's Day In

I don't usually watch movies without my hubby. It has become a ritual for us to watch movies together at home. While we eat dinner or eat we have the TV on, and since there is nothing usually on TV, we end up watching a movie. Today I watched a movie all on my lonesome because it was a girlie flick and he just didn't want to see it because our friend's comment about it was, "It's a good movie, but a depressing chick flick." So, I told hubby I would watch the movie while he was at work, which is what I did today. The movie in question is THE HOURS.

For some reason I didn't watch it on the TV in the living room but here at the computer. Probably because during the day this is where I spend most of my day doing my writing goodness and dreaming my dreams, and hoping something will come of them one day to the rest of the world. Even if the rest of the world doesn't like what I write, I get an absolute blast out of what I do. It entertains me, and the computer is a central place for me. So, I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that the one time I watch a movie solo in months I should do it on the computer screen (17" at that), with the dogs at my feet, a nice glass of soda at my side, and a cheese sandwich to fill my belly.

The movie was excellent. It made me cry and think. It made me want to write better than Virginia Woolf (impossible but hey) and to write something of lasting value where people twenty years down the road will be making movies about (hopefully good movies).

For 114 minutes I was lost in a world of just myself and actors on a screen and enjoyed every single second of it. I participated with the screen in a way I haven't done in ages. It was a guilty pleasure. And I want to do it again.

I don't want to watch every single movie alone, but some movies I do want to watch all by my lonesome just to see if there is something different I gain from them. What will I get from watching Big Fish on my own? No, not going to watch that one just yet, the loss of my own Dad is just a little bit too recent, but yes, I do want to watch that one on my own. I may even go to the video store and go down the isles and pick out some movies I want to watch just on my own.

This has been something I have actually threatened in the past but never done. It seemed so unfair. Now...now I'm going to do it. I'm going to revel in a once-a-week movie just for myself here at the computer and let my mind wander into whatever realm it chooses without regret, into its own guilty pleasure and see what comes of the choices.

Watching movies with my hubby is something I dearly love to do, but this is something I also enjoy doing, now I've done it. It is sort of a "girl's day in" sort of thing. Yes, a girl's day in.

What will be my next choice for my "girl's day in"? An Elvis movie? Titanic? No, I have not seen that one. There are actually a lot of movies I haven't seen because I didn't want to force "girlie movies" onto my hubby. So, why not see some of them on my own? Yes, it sounds like a plan to me.

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

I Want My TV Back

Do you remember those times when you sat down in front of the television set and actually had something to watch? Certain days were for certain television shows. Now, if you don't have cable, like me, you BEG for something good to be on TV before you start rummaging through your video and DVD collection for something decent to watch.

I don't know about you, but for me, I am tired as hell of the real-life TV crap the networks are trying to cram down my throat. Let's face it: We have enough "real life" happening and when I sit down in front of my TV, I don't want real life anything, except perhaps Celebrity Mole, and watch something made up, something someone used their imagination to create and entertain me with dang it! Where are the Knot's Landing-Dallas-Dynasty shows I used to love to watch? Sex In The City was ok, but it just didn't grab my attention like Alexis did when she was fighting with Blake Carrington. Now there were some shows!

And what about those wonderful action flicks you just couldn't get enough of like The A Team, and V? Does anyone remember Ron Perlman's Vincent from Beauty and the Beast? Most recently we had Xena and Hercules. What do we have now?

Let's see ... Andromeda which will be picked up by the Sci Fi Channel and no longer on network TV. We have Enterprise which took me a while to win me over, but is good. It isn't Star Trek: Next Generation or Star Trek: Voyager, but it smacks of adventure. It is nice to see how everything may or may not have begun with The Federation. We also have the CSI group of shows which aren't bad - I DO watch those now when I get a chance.

One show I found extremely enjoyable was Jake 2.0 and it bit the dust.

Now, what is left? Bachelor, Bachelorette, For Love or Money, Survivor? Please, haven't we had enough of this. The fad is over. We've seen all the mistakes made (and repeated several times) and now it is time for something creative and imaginative out there to be put on TV. Something that requires acting and film-making. Yes, acting and real film-making would be really nice to see Network Execs. Or are you so bloated from feeding off of the life-blood of what-came-before you don't give a damn about what we have now?

Friday, June 25, 2004

A Momentous Event, But What Does It Mean?

Sitting here in my little house, writing my little stories, dreaming my little dreams (ok, maybe they aren't so little) I had no idea something spectacular happened in the world until my husband came in one day this week and told me a private citizen had flown into space.

Where was I when this happened? I mean, sure, the Internet is my friend and I am constantly surfing it, so why didn't I see anything pertinent about this event? The sad part is, when grandchildren and youngsters say, "Where were you the day SpaceShip1 took flight?" I am not going to have an answer.

Sadly, my husband found only a small blurb really in our local newspaper and nothing was on the news. The pilot and backer were going to be on Jay Leno but my dear hubby must get up at 5:30 in the morning in order to get to work, so no late-night TV for him.

Today I decided I would look and see what I could find, and found it at www.scaled.com! We have probably stepped into a new age. Here there is an article, including a video clip of the flight, at least the burst and landing of the craft.

On June 21, 2004 ...Under the command of test pilot Mike Melvill, SpaceShipOne reached a record breaking altitude of 328,491 feet (approximately 62 miles or 100 km), making Melvill the first civilian to fly a spaceship out of the atmosphere and the first private pilot to earn astronaut wings. (www.scaled.com press release, my italics)

This man should receive a ticker-tape parade, like the first astronauts! I'm telling you, this is simply an awesome happening!

What does this mean for NASA? Does it mean NASA is finally going to have to get off it's butt and get to doing some important again? Yes. Does it mean people are really going to have to take care of what we have so we don't destroy what else is out there in the Universe? Yes.

Let's face it, we as a race, as a species, do no have a wonderful track record. We have nearly destroyed this planet by greed and belief something will never disappear. All of those now extinct animals would argue a different point...against us. Even today there are animals on the endangered list fighting for survival before they disappear totally from our world.

Now, in essence, the private company has been unleashed on the Universe. It was, of course, inevitable. Still, part of me cringes. Have we learned anything in all these years of living on this world? Can we make it to another planet without destroying it once we get there or having to say "Oops, sorry, my bad" when an animal goes extinct. And just what if that animal is as sentient as a human being? Dolphins are supposed to be as sentient as human beings, yet look at how they are treated. Only when we see other humanoid creatures like ourselves will our prejudice for a "populated" Universe be satisfied I'm afraid.

I applaud this great and wonderful day of SpaceShip1 - and I am also frightened by it.

Here are some links for you to follow:

Scale Composites web site
SpaceShipOne's Press Release
Universe Today
You can also find video footage at MSNBC, which was too cool to watch really!




Thursday, June 24, 2004

A Planned Purchase of Bill Clinton's book, very new for me

I do not usually fall into the book craze and purchase books merely because they are supposed to be good; however, I am going to purchase Bill Clinton's autobiography. I'm just trying to really figure out WHY I want to read it so very much.

Let's face it, when it comes to politics I am apathetic at best in activity, but I do care about what is happening with my country. Unfortunately, I have come to a sad conclusion that nothing I do, even voting, is going to matter or make a bit of difference because the "popular vote" versus the "electoral college" is going to fail every damn time.

As a nation, the electoral college was outgrown somewhere back in the 1950s. Wow, that makes it last century. Still, it remains because the people in power want to remain in power and frankly, They are afraid we will make the wrong choice (i.e. not their choice) for President of the United States.

When Bill Clinton was elected, the Big Wigs thought he was going to be easily controlled. Boy, were they wrong. Why else would they expend so many millions of dollars trying to prove his infidelity? Yet, despite all of this, he managed to BALANCE THE BUDGET!

Don't get me wrong - I am not a Bill Clinton supporter. I have never supported him, but if you really look at what he accomplished, well, it's impressive, and I'm interested in hearing what he has to say. Not about his affair. (I was so tired of that when it was running on TV and am tired of it now.)

Despite my opposition to him, the man has won my respect and I want to read his book.

You want to know the really, really cool part? Because of my friend Cheyenne (guy not girl) and his wonderful anniversary present, I now have a Barnes & Noble card. I think my first purchase with it will be this book, and then a cafe' mocha.

NOTE: There will be another day for exhorting the wonders and deliciousness of a cafe' mocha while sitting in Starbucks in the Barnes & Noble store and writing, or reading as the case may be.

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

a quiet desire

There are times, like today, when all I would really love to do would be to get on a four-wheeler or ATV and head out onto the road and down the river with my fishing pole and tackle box on the back (or the front) and just sit on the side of the river bank and do some fishing. Just throw the line into the river and sort of watch the bobber bob and just sit in the quiet of the day while the river sang its song and the birds backed up the melody. Then I would pull out my moleskin journal, inevitably, and begin writing.

There is something about sitting on the side of the river bank and writing. I never know exactly where I'm going to end up in my imagination. Sometimes it's an entirely different planet, sometimes it's a fantasy realm. Sometimes I just pull out my own journal and write down my own thoughts and worries, and they seem to lighten.

No river bank here in Lexington. No place for me to run away to and just be by myself, at least not like there on the river bank where it's easy to collect your thoughts and ease your breath.

Of course, not everything is easy there, or good.

I sure do miss it.