We all go a little mad sometimes.

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Thanks for the affirmation, Norman Bates. (In an age of computer generated images enabling filmmakers to present a realistic show of ripping off people’s heads or running them over with trains, this scene is a refreshing reminder of the emotions real acting — no FX involved — can generate. If you are not at least a little creeped out by the pure psychosis Anthony Perkins exuded with just his facial expressions, you are not human.)

OK. I sense madness in the coming weeks. Too many uncertainties. One good thing, though — I’ve made some snail’s pace progress on the Backyard Reclamation Project. To clarify: we are reclaiming our back yard from the overgrowth, weeds, critters, and scary green things. Behold the initial evidence (sorry about the “after” shot lighting — I took it at dawn):

I hated that half dead wild rose bush anyway. It was like the Thing That Eats Worlds. But a few dianthus, petunias and marigolds, along with a Minuteman hosta plant on the far end spruced things up nicely. Oh, and don’t forget the garage paintover. I couldn’t move my arms for two days.

So what’s in store for you this weekend, my lovely fiends? Anything fun planned?

Review: A Single Man

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Ever since The King’s Speech, I’ve wanted to get my eyeballs on movies with Colin Firth. I saw a dandy two nights ago.

Painstakingly, brilliantly designed and filmed to achieve total immersion into the year 1962 (think Mad Men), the story grabs you by the throat and shakes you around a bit from the get-go. George Falconer (Firth), a Brit teaching English in Los Angeles, has just been told that his friend (and the love of his life), Jim, was killed in a car crash. He is so completely broken and lost, he decides to get his affairs in order and kill himself.

Many times, in strong lead-character movies like this, the lead runs roughshod over the lesser characters, leaving them grasping for recognition in slim scenes that were obviously written to bolster the headliner. Not so in this film. Julianne Moore, who plays Falconer’s drunken and sad BFF, doesn’t need to overdo it in her limited scenes. She is both beautiful and revolting, clinging desperately to the fond memory of a man she knows she can never have. Does a darn fine British accent, too.

Director Tom Ford allows us to assume that homosexuality in the early 60s was taboo. He never makes a big deal about it, which in my mind would trivialize and stereotype it. In other words, he respects the viewer’s intelligence. This isn’t a film about a gay man; it’s a film about a man. We know the hell that gay people were put through back then if they were outed. Ford took that private pain and tripled it for George, leaving him to suffer the ultimate tragedy in complete silence. The scene where he receives the phone call notifying him of Jim’s death is heartbreaking. Imagine having your world fall apart and have to come across to a stranger on the phone, “Oh, my, that’s terrible. I’m so sorry to hear that.”

If you’re in the mood to see some powerful acting (Firth won Best Actor for the role at the Venice Film Festival in 2010), spot-on period costumes, hair and sets, and a completely believable, real story, get thee to the vid store or Netflix. I promise it’ll be worth it.

On the Rat-O-Meter scale of five cheeses, I give A Single Man:

 

30 Day Challenge Bonus

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So, here it ends. Since the 2nd of May, I have learned fantastic things about you, to wit:

  1. Some great childhood memories
  2. Your first car
  3. What happened the year you were born
  4. Things that get on your everlast nerve
  5. Facts about you that few people know
  6. What you feel are the most useful inventions of the past century
  7. Stuff your mom taught you
  8. Your ability to give rapid-fire answers to random questions
  9. When you almost died, or thought you might die
  10. Your favorite bizarre food choices
  11. Things that creep you out
  12. Your personal belief statements
  13. Secret career desires
  14. When you won something
  15. The sickest you’ve ever been
  16. Who your favorite teacher was, and why
  17. Your recurring dreams/nightmares
  18. Some things you regret
  19. What all you did in high school
  20. Old clothing you still wear
  21. How you came to live where you live
  22. Your favorite candy
  23. Things you think are headed for extinction
  24. Countries you’d like to visit
  25. Your favorite songs
  26. Your favorite films
  27. Your least favorite household chores
  28. Things you like about you
  29. Your favorite time-wasting activities
  30. Recent changes in your life

And the best part: I feel I got to know you a bit better through your posts. Yay! A big thank-you to all my fiends who were such good sports to participate in this little game whenever they could. Unlike many bloggers, I’m not in this to make money; no banner ads here. The interaction from readers this past month — that’s why I do this. Can’t put a price on it, and I hope it continues.

All right. For Day 31, please provide some rapid-fire responses:

  1. Favorite sports teams
  2. Favorite color
  3. Favorite TV show, past or present
  4. Favorite beverage
  5. Favorite quote
  6. Favorite actor
  7. Favorite city
  8. A car you’d like to own
  9. Book you’re reading right now, or if you’re currently not reading, a favorite book
  10. Favorite forms of relaxation

My answers:

  1. Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers
  2. Black, red, brown, gold, purple (ah heck…just include the whole spectrum)
  3. Need you even ask? Mad Men
  4. A spritzer I make, using cranberry juice and diet Sprite (the Js love it as well)
  5. I drank WHAT? – Socrates. <–Kidding. I like the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.
  6. Hmmm…lemme think. :-) JD, of course. I like Cate Blanchett, too.
  7. NYC, Las Vegas
  8. Same answer since the 70s: MG Midget
  9. An epic tome, yeesh — struggling through The Passage by Justin Cronin (think The Stand, but not as interesting)
  10. Getting together with family & friends; watching a ball game; reading; Facebook

Big Fink love to alla y’all. Way to start off June! I will do this again someday, when I’ve thought up 30 more questions.

The next 30 Day Challenge? Getting through them so we can leave for the Odyssey. :-)

30 Day Challenge 30

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Day 30
Tell about a recent change in your life; say, over the past year or so.

My health has totally gone south! I hate it. I’ve never been sickly, ever. And it’s not that I’m “sick” sick, like throw-up or headcold sick. It’s that my parts ain’t working so well anymore. Well let me tell you, this is the Summer of Repair. I don’t want anything to ruin the upcoming Odyssey, to get in the way of playing with the Js, or to complicate the massive choreography that needs to take place over the next few months. Not happening. Just call me Howard Beale.

So, what are your ch-ch-ch-changes? Bet you have some.

30 Day Challenge 29

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A blessed Memorial Day to everyone in the States. Although I don’t know anyone in my family who lost his life in a war, I join a grateful nation this morning in appreciating and thanking all those who paid that price in the name of our country’s freedom. Gone but never forgotten.

OK, on to the penultimate question (although there will be a bonus day, thanks to PK). Everyone wastes time sometime. Even the most studious, serious, intelligent and disciplined people have a guilty time-wasting pleasure — even if they won’t admit it. [Of course, all RtB fiends readily admit to succumbing to one, or else they wouldn’t be here. :D ] So give it up:

Day 29
Name a mindless activity to which you capitulate every now and then.


Yeesh.