Want!
Update: Getting
Not going to out anyone here, but the t-shirt is on the way and how happy is me? See? Me forgot how to write. So happy.
June trivia
All Solved! Go ahead and play trivia in comments!
1. It’s June! Name a movie with “June” in the title.
Solved by maurinsky (comment #4).
2. June is for brides. Name three movies with “Bride” in the title.
Solved by Evn (comments #1 and 3).
3. June is busting out all over! Name 2 movies with “All Over” in the title.
Solved by maurinsky (comment #8).
4. The Summer Solstice occurs this month. Name 2 movies with “Summer” in the title.
Solved by maurinsky (comment #4).
5. The Sun goes into Cancer (the sign of the Crab) this month. Name 3 movies about ocean life.
Solved by Evn (comment #1).
6. But before that, it’ll be in Gemini (the Sign of the Twins). Name 3 movies concerning twins.
Solved by Evn (comment #2) and by maurinsky 9 minutes later (with one overlapping movie) (comment #4).
7. And name 2 movies featuring summer vacations.
Solved by maurinsky (comment #4).
Monday Movie Review: Psycho
Psycho (1960) 10/10
Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), on the way to the bank with $40,000 her employer has given her to deposit in the bank, instead takes off, realizing the money could get her boyfriend (John Gavin) out of debt, allowing him to marry her. Stopping at a motel, she meets Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and everything changes. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Okay, is this a spoilery review, or not? Not, I think. Which makes it hard to write a review, of this twisty, turny movie, because part of its brilliance is in the way it skews audience expectations.
I’ve seen Psycho three or four times. At first I didn’t like it; didn’t get it. But it was a friend’s favorite movie and on his behalf I saw it again, and it was one of those “click” moments, where I was suddenly overwhelmed by everything that was happening in the film. It’s not so much the movie itself, but the way that Hitchcock makes this spare little thriller (which was criticized as nothing more than an extended episode of his TV show) wring meaning and power and tension out of every moment, every inch of film, every camera angle. From shadows to wall decor, from costume to dialogue, each component is deliberate and adds to the overall experience, while still seeming stripped-down and raw.
The acting is extraordinary. Anthony Perkins kind of ruined his career by being so brilliant. Previously a teen hearthrob, playing unassuming, sweet characters who usually get the girl (Friendly Persuasion and The Tin Star come to mind), after Psycho he was relegated to horror, because his performance was so iconic.
Janet Leigh is also great. Stunning, really; she didn’t make nearly enough movies, as far as I’m concerned. I like Martin Balsam as a private detective quite a lot; John Gavin and Vera Miles less so, but they give serviceable performances.
Psycho shows us people in isolation with their hopes and doubts, that which they’ll accept and that which they cannot accept. A crucial conversation between Marion and Norman, in a room full of looming stuffed birds, lays out the movie’s themes: People are trapped in prisons of their own devising; maybe they can escape, but probably they cannot. And the people in this film overlap without really interacting. This, too, is apparent in the conversation between Marion and Norman—they speak of themselves without truly connecting to the other—but it is reflected in virtually every conversation.
But, like many of Hitchcock’s movies, Psycho is also about movies, and about audiences. We expect certain things, we become attached, we have sympathies and fears. And Hitchcock is playing games with us; he wants us to see that our expectations are merely formulaic, that our sympathies aren’t necessarily well-placed. He manipulates us in a way that says, movies always manipulate the audience, so let’s put our cards on the tabe. And it’s brilliant.
Sunday Meditation: Adorning Your Altar
We’ve been talking about altars, and about doing things that connect you to deity through your altar.
Previously, we’ve discussed using creative activities to attain a meditative state, and this dovetails well with altar work, because you can create beautiful objects to adorn your altar.
I’m going to use beading as an example. A wonderful way to adorn your altar is to make a necklace, crown, or other adornment for your idol. It will personalize your altar and can be an offering given reverently. Then, whenever you see it on your idol, you’ll be reminded of your offering and your reverence.
Beading is a fairly easy hobby to pick up on; you can make simple strands with no more prior knowledge than tying a knot. Basic supplies are available at any craft store (like Michael’s or A.C. Moore).If you make the necklace large enough to slip over the idol’s head, you don’t have to mess around with clasps or findings.
Before you begin, measure the approximate length you want by using string or thread to simulate the desired look on your idol. You can wrap the strand two or three times around for a lavish look, and of course, you’ll want to measure a length to accomodate that. Later, when you prepare your beading area, have the length (with plenty of extra at the ends for knotting) already cut so that you can move easily into a meditative state without a lot of fuss.
Now choose your beads. Consider the colors that are sacred to your deity (red and black for Kali, white for Isis, gold and green for Brigid) and meaningful symbols (sea shells? coins?). Choose more than you strictly need so that your creativity isn’t blocked when you run out of a bead you really want to use.
Your beading can be rich and sparkly , or simple stones, and need not be placed directly on the idol.
When beading, don’t work on a slick surface like a wood table; use a table cloth or a tray so that beads don’t roll away. Even if you normally meditate in the dark, bright lights are your friends. Wash your hands, and if you’re using string, consider having a block of wax (craft stores sell it for just this purpose) to wax the string and make it easier to get the beads on. You might use a clip at the end of the string so you can add beads without fear of them coming off the end. Have some glue available; a dab of glue on the finished knot will help keep it secure.
With your beads and stringing material laid out and ready, prepare your space with candles, incense, or whatever you normally use.
Ground and center. You might add a prayer to the deity for whom your are making this necklace.
Look at the beads before you, and imagine how your necklace will look. If you want a symmetrical necklace, you should lay out your pattern in advance (professionals and committed hobbyists use a beading board). Allow creativity to flow through you as you choose your beads and lay out their arrangement.
Continue to breath into your center and inhale creativity, beauty, and adornment, which you exhale into the work you are doing.
Begin now to strand the beads onto the string. Place each bead mindfully and rhythmically.
When you are finished, hold the necklace before you and allow yourself to enjoy the beauty you have made. As you tie the final knot, thank the deity and release the energy into your work.
You can make a ritual of offering the necklace on a separate occasion.
Banned Book Project
I’m stealing this from Evn.
How it works: these are the 110 top banned books. Bold what you’ve read, italicize what you’ve read part of. Read more.
#1 The Bible
#2 Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
#3 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
#4 The Koran
#5 Arabian Nights
#6 Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
#7 Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
#8 Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
#9 Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
#10 Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
#11 Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli
#12 Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
#13 Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
#14 Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
#15 Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
#16 Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
#17 Dracula by Bram Stoker
#18 Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
#19 Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
#20 Essays by Michel de Montaigne
#21 Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
#22 History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
#23 Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
#24 Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
#25 Ulysses by James Joyce
#26 Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
#27 Animal Farm by George Orwell
#28 Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
#29 Candide by Voltaire
#30 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee#31 Analects by Confucius
#32 Dubliners by James Joyce
#33 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
#34 Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
#35 Red and the Black by Stendhal
#36 Capital by Karl Marx
#37 Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
#38 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
#39 Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
#40 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
#41 Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
#42 Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
#43 Jungle by Upton Sinclair
#44 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
#45 Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
#46 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
#47 Diary by Samuel Pepys
#48 Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
#49 Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
#50 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
#51 Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
#52 Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
#53 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
#54 Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
#55 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
#56 Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
#57 Color Purple by Alice Walker
#58 Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
#59 Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
#60 Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
#61 Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
#62 One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#63 East of Eden by John Steinbeck
#64 Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
#65 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
#66 Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#67 Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais
#68 Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
#69 The Talmud
#70 Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#71 Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
#72 Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
#73 American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
#74 Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
#75 A Separate Peace by John Knowles
#76 Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
#77 Red Pony by John Steinbeck
#78 Popol Vuh
#79 Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
#80 Satyricon by Petronius
#81 James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
#82 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
#83 Black Boy by Richard Wright
#84 Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
#85 Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
#86 Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
#87 Metaphysics by Aristotle
#88 Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
#89 Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
#90 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
#91 Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
#92 Sanctuary by William Faulkner
#93 As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
#94 Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
#95 Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
#96 Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
#97 General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
#98 Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
#99 Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
#100 Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
#101 Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
#102 Émile by Jean Jacques Rousseau
#103 Nana by Émile Zola
#104 Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
#105 Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
#106 Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
#107 Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
#108 Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
#109 Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
#110 Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
I tag everyone. Go read.
I Love NY
Today I love being a New Yorker:
Gov. David A. Paterson has directed all state agencies to begin to revise their policies and regulations to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, like Massachusetts, California and Canada.
In a directive issued on May 14, the governor’s legal counsel, David Nocenti, instructed the agencies that gay couples married elsewhere “should be afforded the same recognition as any other legally performed union.”
The revisions are most likely to involve as many as 1,300 statutes and regulations in New York governing everything from joint filing of income tax returns to transferring fishing licenses between spouses.
In a videotaped message given to gay community leaders at a dinner on May 17, Mr. Paterson described the move as “a strong step toward marriage equality.” And people on both sides of the issue said it moved the state closer to fully legalizing same-sex unions in this state.
“Very shortly, there will be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, and probably thousands and thousands and thousands of gay people who have their marriages recognized by the state,” said Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, a Democrat who represents the Upper West Side and has pushed for legalization of gay unions.
I got nothing to say except YAAAAAY!
Tuesday Trivia Solutions
All solved!
Tuesday Trivia: Special Edition
All solved!
1. “I’m suddenly consumed with the overwhelming sensation that I’m covered in some sort of film. It’s in my hair, my face… it’s like a glaze… a coating, and… at first I thought, oh my god, I know what this is, this is some sort of amniotic – embryonic – fluid. I’m drenched in afterbirth, I’ve breached the chrysalis, I’ve been reborn.”
Solved by Trevor J (comment #1).
2. This movie received nine Academy Award nominations; the most for any film that did not receive a Best Picture nomination.
Solved by Melville (comment #3).
3. In this movie about two men who become increasingly enraged with one another after a chance encounter, one of the main characters attends Alcoholics Anonymous. His AA sponsor discusses the connection between anger and addiction with him.
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #4).
4. “You had a leak? You call what’s goin’ on around here a leak? Boy, the last time there was a leak like this, Noah built hisself a boat.”
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #5).
5. One of the lead characters is a novelist who writes A Country Made of Ice Cream.
Solved by Melville (comment #3).
6. Tim Robbins full frontal (I think this is the only such movie, and if I’m wrong, I’m sure someone will tell me and I’ll have to come up with another clue).
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #4) and maurinsky (comment #6) (3 minutes apart).
7. “It will happen this way. You may be walking. Maybe the first sunny day of the spring. And a car will slow beside you, and a door will open, and someone you know, maybe even trust, will get out of the car. And he will smile, a becoming smile. But he will leave open the door of the car and offer to give you a lift.”
Solved by Trevor J (comment #1).
Monday Movie Review: Iron Man
Iron Man (2008) 7/10
Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a boy-genius weapons developer and one of the richest men in the world. In Afghanistan to demonstrate a new missile, he is kidnapped and ordered to build the missile for his kidnappers. With the equipment his captors provide and the assistance of another imprisoned scientist (Shaun Taub), he invents a device to keep the shrapnel in his chest from invading his heart and killing him, and creates an Iron Man suit to effect his escape. Directed by John Favreau.
I could totally review The Apartment, but here I have that rare occasion when I’ve actually gone to a blockbustery movie on a holiday weekend, and okay, not “the” blockbustery movie, but whatever. So I feel obligated to review Iron Man.
There is something about the Iron Man comics that has always been a little stiff, a little stodgy, a little “establishment.” Tony Stark is that rare creature among superheroes; his job is basically not threatened by his secret, nor is his day to day life made particularly more difficult. Okay, sure, heart condition. But the iron suit helps that, it doesn’t cause it. Iron Man comics, even when they were a brand new thing, somehow seemed Old Guard; he’s about America and Industry and he’s got that kind of Bruce Wayne wealth and power and butler and women, and all of that adds up to, “They made a movie? Really? What for?”
On the other side of the equation is Robert Downey, Jr. Hollywood was clamoring to Give That Man a Franchise, which was a damn good idea. Downey is at the peak of his watchability in this film, he is infinitely entertaining to just slap up on the screen and let him do his thing, which Favreau (a talented director who tends towards the very-good-but-not-great) is smart enough to let him do.
Most first superhero movies have 3 parts; the origin, the becoming a hero, and the actual adventure. And most such movies spend too little time on the actual adventure. Iron Man definitely suffers here; the origin in Afghanistan could easily lose twenty percent; the invention of the super-sophisticated suit back home could lose thirty. But for all of those scenes, Downey is on-screen approximately one hundred percent of the time, and every time your mind wanders he pulls you back.
This is a good cast; Terence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow are both far better than they have the right or reason to be, Jeff Bridges phones it in, but his telephone work is better than most actors live. Shaun Taub is wonderful. But this is a one-man show and the movie would, in a word, stink without Downey.
Everything that isn’t Downey is technology and effects, and they are damn good. The suit both looks like the comic book version and is believable; it blends with the rest of the action, and that’s not easy; we’ve seen plenty of movies screw that up. The script avoids several clichés that had me cringing when I thought I saw them coming; only the villain is cardboard.
There’s an ending that kind of irritated me and charmed me in equal parts, and then a post-credits bonus ending that is delightful. So stick around for the very end.
Sunday Meditation: Brief Meditation
A while back, I promised techniques for brief meditation and brief prayer. If you’ve got a life overwhelmed by demands—small children, a noisy space with no room for quiet—than traditional meditation instructions that require twenty minutes of peace and quiet might seem laughable. But if you have such a life, you need the peace that meditation can bring even more than the rest of us.
First, work on grounding and centering. I mean, focus your meditation entirely on getting good at that, until you can do it in about five seconds. That’s easier than it sounds and it’s crucial for brief meditation.
The trick to the five-second grounding and centering is, first, to practice, and second, to leap in. Ground and center as if. As if you could do it in five seconds. Don’t say, well I’ll try, simply know you can; the resource is, truly, already within.
It is helpful to have a trigger; a crystal you hold, a picture you gaze at, a visualization you use. Imprint that trigger by using it whenever you ground and center; ultimately, simply using the trigger will start the process, as if you’ve pushed a button.
Once you have relaxed your mind and body into the centered moment, you can use that moment for prayer or meditation. Sometimes all you have time for is the centered moment, but even that can bring benefits to you.
The easiest place to find a meditation moment is in the shower. Even the most harried among us has to shower, and the relaxing feeling of hot water, the sound barrier as it rushes about us, is ideal for taking that deep breath in, finding your center, and remembering who you are. This is a moment when you can reach out to the Goddess, or ask for inner wisdom, or for strength. This is the moment when you can find the compassion that lives within you, and bring it to your day.
Another good moment for brief meditation is when you’re getting dressed. Instead of just throwing on whatever, take a moment to look at your closet or dresser and know that beauty is of the Gods, and bring beauty to yourself.
And again, when you open the refrigerator. Nourishment is the Earth Mother, it is the Harvest and the Hunt. Ground and center, and from a centered space, open the fridge and let the feeling of sustenance and satiety become a part of you.
If you can commit yourself to seeing the sacred in the ordinary, then there are many such moments you can find, and they will become a source of strength and peace for you.
