Godfrey's Film Review

"Long Day's Journey Into Night": A film made in 1962, starring Katherine Hepburn, based on the play of the same name written by Eugene O'Neill. I watched this movie and was floored. It was incredibly intimate, painfully honest, and the acting was amazing. Long uncut camera shots capture monologues that take you through a labrynth of emotions--emotions I would think should be mutually exclusive. Yet, these emotions emerge as inherent, as integrated, in the words, in the actors, and in the story itself.
One caveat: you've got to be prepared to focus on this movie; treat it as though you are going to the theatre. If you invest the time and energy, I think you will find it incredibly worthwhile.

Potent Quotables

"A dispassionate white sun shone at the summit of the sky. I wanted to hone myself on it till I grew saintly and thin and essential as the blade of a knife."

--Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar (pretend that's underlined).

What quotes linger in your mind?

I Just Re-Wrote the Rules to Blog-Tag

Good Ol' Kelly of http://kradsrag.blogspot.com has "tagged" me, which means I am now to share ten fascinating facts about myself. I never back down from a challenge, Kelly, so I will list five items, and then leave the last five blank so that ALL who read it [This means you, dear reader.] may* post something quirky, unique, or extraordinary about themselves, be it on my comment page, on One's own blog, in a letter to a friend, or in a Letter to the Editor of the newspaper of One's choosing. It seems I just changed the game from Blog-Tag, to Blog-Sharks-and-Minnows. What next from unpredictable me?!
*The use of the word "may" in this case, lends itself to a more steely "is required to".

Five Facts Fascinating:

1. I find the smell of geraniums revolting. The fact is, geraniums really do smell horribly, it's just that nobody wants to admit it because we all have someone in our lives (ie, Mom, Grandma, Auntie) who love, love, loves, geraniums. Well, I'm putting it out there: they stink. (Sorry Mom).

2. My friend Rachel hates fruit pies. (I rather like fruit pies, but I needed something to spice this fact up because "Four Facts Fascinating and One Fact Tepid" is a lame title to this list.) Thanks to Rachel for her contribution to this fascinating fact about me!

3. I've been know to invent new words and use them teauvalenscently in casual, or even prulient conversation. I know, it's so caldezon!

4. Rumors continue to circulate that Tom Selleck is my biological father.

5. I have two sisters and it just so happens that one sister hates the feeling/touch of velvet. She will NOT touch it or be the object of its touch for any reason whatsoever. My exploitation of this knowledge rendered me the nickname "Jennifart". My other sister is very sweet and kind.

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Surprise! I wrote something.

As many of you know, I lost the use of my fingers several months ago and have therefore been unable to tend to my loving web log. Thank you for your well-wishes and what-have-yous; they have touched me deeply. I'm not one to complain, so if you weren't aware of this life-changing tragedy, don't beat yourself up about it. Just know that those snide little remarks you made about my lack of blogging the last few months have been wiped off the slate. I forgive you. Actually, I really appreciate you saying something about the blog (lack of) because it shows me that you care, and that you still check the blog. I sincerely thank both of you.

Lately, I've been scanning the SkyMall catalog and have been enjoying the Marketing Captions that accompany the 'must-have items' that can be found nowhere else, save in the SkyMall Catalog. I don't have my MBA or my PhD or my BLT, but Im pretty sure the CEO's of SkyMall are banking on the scientific likelihood that "People lose logic and the ability to reason at 30,000 ft above sea level."* Thus, no need to work hard (or at all) at marketing. Examples of this are abundant within the pages of the catalog; for example: "Everyone loves the Claw Machine!", is a caption hovering over a picture of one of those machines with the poor derelict stuffed animals and crappy wristwatches piled helplessly under the ominous silver claw that secretly suffers from arthritis and can't grasp anything unless it eats at least six dollars worth of quarters. Well, at 30,000 ft above sea level when I'm praying for some ginger cookies and a splash of Sprite over a gigantic cumbersome piece of ice with a hole in the middle of it, you are darn-tootin' that I'm thinking, "Yes! Everybody DOES love those crazy funny whimsical machines! I love them! I need one in my own home as soon as possible!" Thank God cell phone use is NOT allowed during the flight.

That's enough food for thought...for now. I plan to continue my exploration of SkyMall marketing phenomena (as long as my fingers hold up) via my beloved web log. Your comments are welcome, and if you want to play with my claw machine, come on over! Bring some quarters.



*footnote: This might actually be a scientific fact, so maybe don't scoff so loudly.

Tragic, but I want you to prepare yourself:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/myspace_outage_leaves_millions


http://www.theonion.com/content/news/dog_breeders_issue_massive_recall

HEADLINE NEWS

I get a big kick out of finding funny headlines. I get a bigger kick out of making them up myself (see previous blog). Here are some that I found notable, thanks to Ananova:


Ananova: Quirkies : gaffes
Driver loses licence after drink with instructorA driving student lost her licence three hours after passing her test after going for a drink with her instructor to celebrate. 10:40 Friday 11th May 2007

MP's graffiti crusade backfiresAn Australian MP's anti-graffiti crusade backfired when he spent five hours scrubbing off a specially commissioned piece of street art. 09:08 Friday 20th April 2007

Free repairs to flammable toiletsJapan's leading toilet manufacturer is offering free repairs to 180,000 toilets after some of them caught fire. 15:15 Monday 16th April 2007

News Brief

Drunk Person Gives Advice to Anyone There.

Local drunk and self-proclaimed shell-of-a-man, Edwin Crodd made his views on life available to the public today at no cost or consequence. Spewing his opinions on whatever subjects he could form on his lips, Crodd had this to say that was decipherable:

"There's no pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow. There's only these pants, over and over and over."

"You know how Mel Gibson made his money? He told us how Jesus died. Goodbye."

"Roger needed a good slap in the face. So I gave him one. That's right I hit the man. Where did I put my thirty eggs?"

These invaluable nuggets of wisdom were all we had time for before Crodd caught his cab to go sober up.