Or rather, he has one giant stone and a few small ones. As I’ve mentioned a few times recently, my husband G. Grod has been having gall bladder trouble. He is having surgery later this week. Fortunately, he’s probably able to have the easy version (outpatient), rather than the hard version (5 day hospital stay) of the surgery, but it still has a 10 day recovery period, so things may be a little erratic around here for a while.
#37 in my movie challenge for the year was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I both admired and enjoyed this film. Jim Carrey’s performance was remarkably restrained, and was perhaps the best I’ve seen from him. Winslet was just as strong, and never once did I question her American accent. A friend of mine derided Kirsten Dunst’s performance, but I think she did a fine job of playing an annoying, immature person who hasn’t learned from her mistakes. Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman also wrote Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Both of those were technically good, though I didn’t much like them. They were about being up in one’s head, and detached from emotion. This film did an admirable job of being intellectual as well as emotional.
When I moaned the other night that I was behind in my reading, my husband G. Grod patiently explained that I had already met my book challenge for the year, then chosen to increase it, so I was really ahead, and not behind.
Nonetheless, it does feel as if some of the books I’ve read lately have taken up more of my time than they were worth. That, though, probably isn’t so much about slow reading as it is about unworthy books.
#55 in my book challenge for the year, The Year of Secret Assignments is a really good young adult novel. It’s mostly epistolary, told in letters by six students in a pen-pal project, plus in journal and notebook entries. It is both funny and touching, centering on friendship, loss, finding oneself, plus a teensy bit of revenge. The main characters are likeable and engaging, and the book moves at a quick pace.
Within the last few months, my toddler son Drake has become much more affectionate. He asks to give and receives hug and kisses. He’ll also give a little squeeze to my arm or leg while he says, “Keethe,” because he lisps just a little.
It’s both strange and normal to see this change. Strange, because I’d resigned myself to the fact that he wasn’t a very snuggly guy. And normal, because I’ve been shown again and again not to make assumptions, and that everything changes all the time. Part of me wonders if this is simply his development. Another part wonders if it can be coincidence that he became more affectionate about the same time as our lives finally seemed to settle down. A lot of stresses fell away this past spring, and I can’t help but feel the change in his behavior meant that he noticed, too.
I saw the playground dad yesterday (and, as is typical of playground interactions, I have no memory of his name, but I do know his son’s) I told him of our recent disastrous restaurant experience. He confirmed what I knew to be our key mistake–going with another family + toddler. His advice was for just the three of us to go early, to avoid crowds and keep the stimulation lower. He affirmed that dining out was a good thing for a family, and not something to be hastily given up.
Drake isn’t two for a few weeks, but it seems like he is for all intents and purposes. And that has become my answer for all questions, lately. Why is he throwing a tantrum? Why does he want me to read the same book four times in a row while he ignores others? Why is he so giddy and happy? Why won’t he eat sweet potatoes anymore? Why does he say “outside” then play with his trucks?
With a baby, and still with a toddler, there aren’t many concrete answers. One hard thing for me about parenting has been to soldier on without an answer. I think my vague parenting strategy, which I formed but have trouble following, is not to fret away the good times, and not to freak out during the tough ones.
Movies 35 and 36 in my movie challenge for the year were Zoolander and Starsky & Hutch. These were good, funny little movies that got the laughs and then got out. Each clocked in at about 90 minutes, as a good comedy should–see Wilson’s Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights for why not to push it to two hours. I am not a Ben Stiller fan. I find him rather creepy. Yet I didn’t find his presence detrimental to these movies, and he was particularly funny as Starsky. Both movies had strong supporting roles by the hilarious Will Ferrell. The soundtrack to Starsky and Hutch was great, as were the fashions. I keep hoping that both Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson will find better movies and larger audiences, but they’re doing pretty well in Wedding Crashers, which is a good sign.
I can’t be the only one who has noticed that nothing has happened in the first two episodes of season two of Battlestar Galactica. Oh sure, there’s been some shooting, and a lot of people we’d never met and didn’t care about died, but at the end of the second episode we’re in a place no different than we were at the end of Season One: Adama’s unconscious, Apollo’s in trouble, Starbuck’s on Caprica, and that landing team on Kobol is screwed. Something better change Friday. I know it’s normal for a show to slump in its second season, but I can’t stop hoping. And I’m warning all and sundry, if the sophomore slump happens to Veronica Mars this fall, my wrath will know no bounds.
Also, if you didn’t notice but do care, Sci Fi is re-running Joss Whedon’s Firefly series in order in preparation for the release of the movie Serenity. Firefly is decent, and has a few cool bits, like how the ships don’t make sound in space, because, of course, they wouldn’t.
#34 in my movie challenge for the year, Howl’s Moving Castle was both lovely and disappointing. Disappointing because the story got muddled in the middle and was hard to follow. I found this probably the least well done of director Hayao Miyazaki’s films. Then again, a lesser Miyazaki film is still well above average. There was a lot to like about the film. The visuals were lovely. I enjoyed the varying portrayals of the main character Sophie, both as a girl and then later, under enchantment, as an old woman. I thought the pretty, non-threatening appearance of young wizard Howl contrased nicely with Christian Bales’ deep voice, and was a very believable object of attraction for a young girl. I also very much liked the appearance of Calcifer the fire demon, and thought that Billy Crystal did an admirably funny, restrained job of voicing him. And the moving castle was a wonder to behold. As usual for Miyazaki’s films, the young girl has to find solutions and help both herself and those around her, not just without adults but often in spite of them. Miyazaki’s film, like the Diana Wynne Jones book it is based on, does not gloss over the fact of evil in the world, or the sometime stupidity of adults. The book and the movie honor their young audience members by portraying a complex story with complex heroes. The movie perhaps works best as a companion to the book, which is one I have recommended before. Diana Wynne Jones is a British author of children’s fantasy books, and the Harry Potter series owes much to her work.
#54 in my book challenge for the year is the latest graphic novel collection of Y the Last Man, Vaughan’s tale of the only man who wasn’t killed off in a plague that killed all male animals on the planet. I read it cover to cover in one sitting. The story, the characters, and the art are all strong. We finally find out why Yorick survived, and it’s an interesting, believable addition to the plot that still leaves some questions. The collection has a good, cliff-hanger ending, and leaves me excited for the next installment of the story.
After Drake was born, my husband G. Grod and I continued to dine out occasionally. We would keep Drake in his seat or his stroller for as long as he’d tolerate it, then one of us would hold him while the other person ate, then we’d switch. As Drake grew, though, so did the force of his displeasure, as well as his ability to evade rudimentary restaurant high-chair restraints. After a few challenging dinners, we decided that perhaps we’d take a break from restaurants for a while. It didn’t make sense to pay for an experience that no one enjoyed.
But I met a dad on the playground who encouraged me not to give up, and recommended the restaurant he worked at as a good place for little kids. I also didn’t want to give up because I enjoy dining out. So last Friday night we decided to give it a shot, called some friends who also have a toddler, and went to the restaurant that the playground dad had recommended.
It was a disaster. The nearly two-year-old boys were thrilled to see each other, and got wound up immediately. Their shrieks of delight earned concerned glances from an elderly couple. They splashed their hands in the indoor fountain until our waitress warned that it was dirty. They then got furious when we took them away. The boys refused to sit in the high chairs and were uninterested in food. When we took them outside they didn’t want to stay in front of the restaurant, but ran down the block. We had just gotten appetizers when my friend asked if we should pack everything up and go. Everyone agreed, and we continued the meal in her backyard, where everyone was a lot happier. (Until G. Grod’s gall bladder attack two hours later, that is.)
The good news is that we were brave enough to give it a try, and adaptable enough to make a new plan when the original one failed. The bad news is that we may have to give even family-friendly restaurants a miss until Drake gets a little older. I don’t want to keep putting him, and us, into a situation that clearly doesn’t work.
#53 in my book challenge for the year is another excellent entry in the Rush Hour series, an anthology of short pieces for teen readers and those of us who admire teen literature. In fact, the anthology might have done its job too well. It featured several excerpts from to-be published novels, and over the next few days, I kept thinking, where was that character I just read. Three of the novel excerpts made such a strong impression–”Open Ice”, “Humble and Grand” and “The Center of the World”–that I felt as if I was still hanging out with the characters.
#33 is my movie challenge for the year is Michael Moore’s acclaimed documentary. Yes, Moore can be annoying and manipulative. He tossed around some very fuzzy numbers. But he is also quite funny, and I appreciate how his tenacity often got results, as when he and two boys who had been shot at Columbine High School visited KMart headquarters, and got them to stop selling bullets nationwide. His point, which I don’t think he made clear enough, is that while people should have the right to have guns, they don’t really need them for protection. He blamed the American media and government for creating an environment of fear that resulted in a more gun-toting, violent society.
Ironically, I was still thinking over his point about how our fears about safety far outstrip the actual likelihood of violence in our lives when some drunk yahoo smashed our front porch window over the weekend. I was glad for our home security system.
Last week was a tough week. My nearly 2-year old son Drake screamed a lot and took very short naps. I looked forward to the weekend. Then my husband G. Grod had a gall bladder attack on Friday, and some drunk vandal broke our front porch door window on Sunday at 2 a.m. Any weekend that features both a call to the police and a trip to Urgent Care qualifies as one of the worst ever, I think.
Since when is blue raspberry a “classic” Jolly Rancher flavor? I’m pleased that they stopped including the yucky lemon flavor, and the other flavors make sense: cherry, watermelon, apple, grape. I used to really like the raspberry flavor, but its new, blue color is off-putting. Perhaps they thought that two red flavors in one bag were two many, so they turned raspberries blue and left out the quite nice strawberry, which I’d much prefer to grape.
I wrote recently about nostalgic food. I always think of Jolly Ranchers as pool food. When we were little, my mom would take me and my sisters to the public pool and give us a little money to spend at the snack bar. The big Jolly Rancher bars were a favorite treat. Not as good as the chocolate scooter crunch ice cream bars, but cheaper and really good.
I’ve been bothered for a while how acknowledgment pages have gotten out of hand, and written about Melissa Bank’s The Wonder Spot’s curious lack of one.
Here, Emily G. does a much better, funnier job of critiquing these pages. I especially like her idea of having a film-credit like list at the end. Link via Bookslut.
#52 in my book challenge for the year, and finally, a really good book! It feels as if I haven’t read one in a while. Housekeeping centers around two young sisters and the family members that care for them. It is a meditation on family, loss, home, transcience, and more. The editors of a recent anthology of contemporary writing noted that most of the submissions from women writers ahd been “disapointingly domestic.” Domestic does not mean disappointing, as Robinson’s novel clearly demonstrates. Her writing is lovely, the characters full-fleshed and compelling, the sense of place concrete, and the story pulls the reader right through. Housekeeping met with much critical acclaim when it was published in 1980, and it was only last year that Robinson published her second novel, Gilead, which I am now eager to read.
#32 in my movie challenge for the year. The Bourne Supremacy was a solid spy movie, with good perfomances all around and well-filmed action and car-chase sequences. Matt Damon is suprisingly effective, as he was in The Bourne Identity, as an action hero. The shaky camera got a little annoying at times; I hope that the current penchant for this will wane soon.
I was warned out of the sun almost two decades ago by a dermatologist, and I’ve mostly obeyed. Even so, I still got one accidental sunburn a year for a while. In recent years, though, I’ve become less vain about wearing a hat and frumpy cover-ups in the sun, and the accidental sunburns stopped. I am very conscientious about sunscreen/sunblock for both Drake and me, since he inherited my fair skin rather than G. Grod’s dark olive complexion.
My new favorite sunblock is Neutrogena Ultrasheer Dry-Touch Sunblock, which comes in both SPF 30 and 45. As its name suggests, it is a non-greasy, non-sticky formula. It has a very light scent, and comes in a slim, light tube that is easy to slip into a purse or diaper bag. Its pleasant formula makes me dread putting it on less, so I use it more; I just bought my second tube of the summer.
The sunscreen that I am less delighted with is the Coppertone Sport Sunblock Spray. I bought it for my back and neck. While it does allow me to reach those spots, it has a tacky finish, and a strong, traditional Coppertone smell. Most unpleasant, though, is that it seems impossible not to inhale the stuff as I’m spraying it on. I usually opt to wear something that covers my upper back, and then use the Neutrogena on my arms and the back of my neck.
When I went to my annual dermatologist check up this year, the office recommended three brands as being overall good for skin and sun care: Neutrogena, Dove and Olay. Best of all, these are drugstore brands that are usually inexpensive and easily available. I haunted department store cosmetic counters for years. I am much more satisfied, with the products and from a simplicity-of-life standpoint, to buy and use the drugstore brands.