Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Monthly Archives: July 2014

• Movie Blues

  Posted at 2:51 am by kayewer, on July 27, 2014

  After four decades of watching movies, I finally saw one that I can honestly say was the most disappointing ever. If it’s taken this long to see a movie that bad, I feel either truly blessed or amazingly tolerant of cinematic garbage, because the best movie critics have lists of bad movies miles long, and I have only two. Sure, there are bad movies on the list, but only the worst of the worst deserve to be on a list of two.

  The only movie I ever walked out of was “Altered States,” the William Hurt movie about isolation tanks and strange otherworldly dreams and such. I did see it through years later, but it still didn’t impress me.

  Last week I went with a friend to see “Snowpiercer,” the Joon-ho Bong directed thriller set aboard a train travelling through a post-apocalyptic sub-zero world, with a rear car filled with rebellious lower class survivors attempting to win access to the privileges of the rich at the engine. The Asian inspired imagery and dark theme were interesting, but I didn’t grip my seat rest. In today’s vernacular, I’d rate it a “meh.”

  Out of curiosity, I rented and watched “Argento’s Dracula” (“Dracula 3D”), a project by a well-known director of horror films. It was done so horribly that it will take me days to construct a review, and has prompted me to return to an old website of mine and post the said review when completed. I guess you know I really feel strongly about this project.

  The difficulties of being a movie reviewer become apparent when one is compelled to sit through an entire bad film to find out if there is anything–maybe a decent ending–to add some positivity to the process of discussing it. I’m sure critics like the blessed, late Roger Ebert would have liked to spend their time watching better films than some of the celluloid denizens from the seventh sub-basement of hell they had to endure for the sake of warning others away.

  Don’t bother renting “Argento’s Dracula” unless you are a fan of the director or its stars and want them to get some coffee and donut money from the distributor. As for me, I’ll rent something with a bit more bite for my buck and hope it gets better from here.

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  Posted in Commentary, Theatre/Movies/Entertainment | 2 Comments | Tagged Altered States, Argento's Dracula, Snowpiercer movie

• What’s Ahead for My Eye

  Posted at 1:52 am by kayewer, on July 20, 2014

  I had a little accident last week. I tripped up some steps into my kitchen, bopped my head on the edge of the dry sink and cut my arm. Amazingly there was practically no pain, but my forehead did begin to swell, so I applied ice, popped an Aleve® (only needed one) and my life went on.

  Over the next three days, my arm put on a dazzling display of colors, from blues and greens to yellows and purples (one patch was a particularly pleasant lavender I would like to repaint a room in), and whatever discoloration I could have had on my forehead dispersed and took a journey in a southeasterly direction down the bridge of my nose, below my eye and across my cheek. The bruising is a perfect half-diamond on my face, with my forehead looking as if nothing happened.

  I look like somebody punched me, but only one person has actually come out and said anything about it. Of course they knew that I am single and not in a volatile relationship or prone to picking fights in bars, so they felt comfortable showing genuine concern. It seems the rest of the world has become so jaded by body piercings, O-rings the size of soda cans in earlobes and tattoos in unlikely places, my bruised eye is tame by comparison.

  I wonder, however, if I were in a relationship in which my partner used violence, somebody reaching out to ask about my eye might make a difference if I were the kind of person who didn’t know where to turn for help. Would it be so improper to say, “Gee, may I ask about your eye?”

  Anyway, I know the discoloration will go away in a few more days, and thank goodness there are makeup products out there to help hide the worst of it. And I didn’t dent the dry sink.

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  Posted in Commentary | 0 Comments | Tagged bruising, head injury

• Chapman Changed Up Our Evening

  Posted at 2:30 am by kayewer, on July 13, 2014

  I came home the other night to find my mother seated in front of the television, watching a PBS music program, and it wasn’t Lawrence Welk.

  She was watching a fellow named Emmett Chapman and a band called the Stick Men (which includes King Crimson associated musician Tony Levin), demonstrate a versatile instrument he invented: the Chapman Stick, a device resembling a guitar with extra frets, no filled-out body to speak of, and a bevy of ways to play it and/or imitate or enhance other instruments. It can be strummed or tapped, adjusted to produce a large variety of sounds (like bass and harmonies with chords) all at once.

  The sound was mesmerizing and fun to listen to, and it was interesting to bridge the gap in our ages and appreciate something unique in modern music: my mother doesn’t particularly like much past the Sinatra era, but she liked this. I enjoyed the music and overlooked some of the titles of the pieces (“Lark Tongues in Aspic Part II” or something like that), but appreciated that the audience in the venue was quiet and engaged, and I didn’t need earplugs.

  Sure, I’m no expert in music terminology, so as Chapman discussed the qualities of the instrument I figured whatever he was saying was impressive. What matters is that the instrument makes a fine sound and can probably be played by anybody. It’s not a ukulele, but it’s not trying to play the Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto, either. I’m surprised more guitarists don’t try this instrument.

  I wonder what it would be like to pair a Chapman Stick with a Theremin?

   

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• Ask.fm, Bullying and Terrorism

  Posted at 2:05 am by kayewer, on July 13, 2014

  Matthew Homyk was murdered by bullies at the age of 14. The teen from Brunswick, Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) was terrorized on an anonymous post-heavy site frequented by the over-13 crowd,  called Ask.fm. After seeing enough nameless posts of negativity, the young man ended his life.

  Though this website’s FAQ page specifies that users can control what is seen and what they see (by changing their profiles and preferences), and encourages parents and users to speak up when bullying occurs, we all know it is not possible to monitor everything that gets posted. Besides, with this type of posting allowed, with no posters’ identities to be traced and no repercussions, I can’t imagine the site being used for anything but negativity, rumors and lies. The point is, users can say anything and remain anonymous, so unless you are certain that only your friends will post positive things, blocking anonymous posts is, essentially, blocking all contact with your peers. The bullies know this, and they exploit it.

  Also, answers by the staff at Ask.fm saying “we will do what we can” to the question “How do you know if a user is over 13 years old?” does not offer hope that anything can be done to prevent younger school-age children from making the site a destructive dung heap of psychologically crippling hate. All they have to do is subtract 13 from the current year and lie.

  It makes me sick to read about victims and their families and, unfortunately, the media tends to focus on them exclusively. What I would like to see is one gutsy media resource who will strap on a pair and call out the bullies for their side of the story. I would like to hear from Matthew’s tormentors, and I have a ton of questions I would like them to answer.

  As we look at what bullying does to our society, it seems as if being a bully is a direct path to terrorism, subversive and even criminal behavior, yet we don’t seem to work on obliterating it at its source: the impressionable young who jockey for their places in the pecking order of life. Some of them win by honest, fair play: the rest by intimidation and death. Look at any terror leader, standing at a lectern warbling about war and destruction, and behind it all you see the playground bully lording over the schoolyard while the families of the oppressed children stand by and sigh, “kids will be cruel.”

  Wake up! We are the ones who can stop kids being cruel. It’s time to look at this scourge for what it is and put an end to it.

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• Pastry Mondays

  Posted at 1:39 am by kayewer, on July 6, 2014

  After a holiday weekend, the managing directors often request that somebody (that’s me and my compatriots) get coffee and donuts for the department for the first morning back. They know that everybody will function better when jacked up on sugar and caffeine after spending a weekend mucked up on beer and charbroiled grease.

  We have a Dunkin’ Donuts less than a mile away, and they set us up nicely with dozens of donuts and ten-serving boxes of java whenever the need arises. They don’t close for blizzards, and the owners’ holidays never seem to affect or clash with ours (I used to know a place that actually closed for Chinese New Year and Tet). Bless the poor schlub who invented the box with the disposable bladder inside to fill with hot beverages: the famous “Box O’ Joe” is the most popular portable outside food an office full of grumpy co-workers ever had.

  Of course, I’m the weirdo who drinks tea, and DD doesn’t do Boxes O’ Tea. I never have figured out what it is about coffee I don’t like, but over the years I have tried, unsuccessfully, to develop a taste for it. It’s as much a part of the human population as IPhones(R) (which I don’t have, either). I do remember the first big step I took to try and enjoy coffee. I was at the local bank with my fellow Girl Scout troop, selling cookies in the lobby next to a complimentary coffee dispenser. I poured a cup, added some sugar and creamer, took a sip and made a face: it tasted like cardboard. I added more sugar, more creamer, back and forth, to no avail. It didn’t taste one bit better.

  Fortunately I do like donuts. Every variety. When you get a few dozen to feed a hungry horde of employees, you get to sample anything the folks at DD invent for the donut lover in the office. I have downed candy autumn leaves and Valentine pink hearts on orange or pink icing, sucked up gobs of Boston or whipped cream or fruit jelly from overly injected centers, licked gritty sugars from the perimeter of my now ruined lipstick, sneezed at powdered sugar, played tug-o-war with twists and desegmented crullers, sat like Cleopatra while savoring sour cream perfections and puckered until my lips met the back of my head when confronting a lemon lovely. This is the way of the office donut ritual.

  The thing is, I’ve wanted to bake cupcakes for the office for the past two Sundays, and now that I have the time and ingredients, I won’t do it since we’ll all be bursting at the seams with donuts. I have carrot cake, chocolate, vanilla and blueberry cupcakes waiting for my creative hands to breathe life into them. They’ll have to wait behind the donuts and coffee.

  No wonder the bakeries close on Mondays.

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