+ 1 - 1 | § ¶Can Shopping Be Bad?
[Josh is joining this blog because, like me, he enjoys omphaloskepsis. Also, apparently nobody reads his LiveJournal, so he's seeking a wider audience here. Here he begins, though I'll actually be typing while he dictates...]
David and I purchased nineteen movies today at Best Buy. Fourteen of them don't really count as 14, since they were in a boxed set, so they really count as one. I also bought an autograph, but more about that later.
The individual films are listed first in chronological order by year of release, and the 14 Alfred Hitchcock films are listed together at the end:
The Ten Commandments (1956), which is about a bald guy who opresses this guy who likes guns. It also includes a silent version in which you can't hear the gunfire, or the water parting.
All the President's Men (1976), which is a story about these two guys who are not the President's men; they like write stuff for the Washington Post. They work for this woman who later wrote a book about herself; it sold a lot of copies, I think.
An American Werewolf in London (1981), which is a story about this werewolf in London, and there's like blood on his teeth and stuff. And he's got a snout. [David laughs.] Well, he does!
War of the Worlds: The First Season (1988-1989), of a show that never quite made it. I'm not sure what this is about; that's David's department. [It's a premake of the recent Tom Cruise movie, of course! :-)]
Traffic (2000), and it's not about living in Peoria.
The Bourne Identity (2004); it doesn't have Ben Affleck in it.
And now, the Hitchcock movies:
Sabateur (1942); I haven't seen this one, but I imagine it's a spy film, I think.
Shadow of a Doubt (1943); this film teaches you to go with your gut instinct. And you honestly do not know what's going to happen.
Rope (1948); the most boring film I have ever attempted to watch, other than Cleopatra. Maybe I could've handled it on the stage, where it was meant to be. Hitchcock employed self-editing camera technique in which he would use an entire 10-minute magazine of film for each shot. There is very little camera movement in the film, and it's very dull. It's an interesting idea, but it didn't really work despite good actors, and good writing, and a great director.
Rear Window (1954); this film teaches you what can happen when you do pay attention to your own backyard. Wonderfully acted by Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, Thelma Ridder, and Raymond Burr.
The Trouble with Harry (1955); Shirley MacLaine's first film, and Hitchcock's only comedy (though many of his films included traces of humor, this was his first out-and-out comedy). A very, very odd film.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956); the ending is of questionable believability, but the performances turned in are some of the best by Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart, probably the finest of Doris Day's career.
Vertigo (1958); considered to be Hitchcock's masterpiece, this film stars Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart. It was originally supposed to star the actress Vera Miles, but just before principal photography began, she announced she had become pregnant... Hitchcock never forgave her, although he cast her in a supporting role in Psycho two years later, he made her character as drab as could be. Novak is stunning in this film, as is the scenery. The bell tower is a matte painting.
Psycho (1960); almost everyone knows Psycho. I had the unfortunate experience of taking a college friend to see the remake in 1998; I should've just rented the original and let her see that. Anthony Perkins gives a haunting performance, one that exudes boyishness and invites our sympathies.
The Birds (1963); David and I watched this tonight; it was his first time seeing it. Interestingly, this film was without a musical score; the only sound provided is that of birds. The performances are alright, although somewhat stilted in the area of 'Tippi' Hedren. It was her first movie role; she had been a model before.
Marnie (1964); this is a film about sex and psychology. It's rather disturbing, and I will probably never watch it again. That's all I have to say about that.
Torn Curtain (1966); I have not finished this film yet, but it stars Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.
Topaz (1969); this movie is like about the army or something, maybe Fidel Castro. I've never seen it.
Frenzy (1972); a truly disturbing, terrifying film about a serial killer in England. This is one that's also very difficult to watch by onesself.
Family Plot (1976); the stewardess is flying the plane!!! Karen Black is in this movie. Barbara Harris is also in this movie; you may remember her from Freaky Friday. This film felt more like a Beuna Vista release than a Hitchcock movie. I never understood why he made this film the way he did. It was his last film, and it's fun to watch.
I bought some other movies, but I don't remember what they are right now, and I don't feel like going and getting them, but I do have two more coming in the mail, along with three books. The two movies are:
Desert Bloom (1986). One of my personal favorites, mainly because it has JoBeth Williams as the mother, features a dysfunctional family, and takes place in the 1950's. It's a cool story that takes place in Nevada around the nuclear testing grounds. Annabeth Gish stars as Rose, a 13-year-old who's trying to figure out what's going on with her life.
A&E Biography: "Richard Nixon: Man and President" (1997). I haven't seen this yet, but I imagine it covers his life as President.
I purchased a Pat Nixon autograph today. It's cool.
-Josh
+ 2 - 0 | § ¶Getting caught up again...
The past couple of weeks have been pretty busy. Here are a few items of note:* My financial crunch may soon be over. I'm re-financing the house and consolidating some other debts (including some of the home improvement credit expenses from last summer/fall and some of the medical expenses I incurred from the sleep study and related tests); I was pleased to discover that property values have gone up in my area significantly, so I'm also able to take out some additional cash as a buffer in the event of future needs, in addition to getting my monthly payments down noticeably.
* [[Wikipedia]] is addictive. Too addictive.
* Nancy and Grace are doing fine after getting their sutures removed. Nancy has been getting a little more adventurous in exploring the house, instead of just staying close to the front bedroom.
* I've recently seen "Brokeback Mountain" and "Rent". The former was a pretty good movie, in my opinion, but not so good that I thought it deserved the Oscar over other movies, such as "The Chronicles of Narnia" (which didn't even get nominated). The latter was quite good; as a musical, I was impressed with the varying styles of music and dance used. (Oops, is my modifier dangling?) About the only thing I'd heard about "Rent" before seeing it was that it was about a bunch of people who try to get out of paying their rent, which didn't sound very interesting... but which also turned out to not quite be accurate, either.
* Dad came over a couple days ago to hook up some high-definition cables from the cable box to the TV so we can watch HD shows on the HD channels without black bars on all four sides of the screen. He also improved the wireless network so I have better coverage in all rooms of the house.
* Bradley is on Spring Break this week, so there was no Psi Phi meeting Wednesday.
* I wore an orange shirt to work on Friday. I learned on the TrekBBS that green is more specifically a Catholic Irish color; since I'm neither Catholic nor Irish, I decided to wear the color that at least half-represents me, orange, the Protestant Irish color. Also, all of my green shirts were (and still are) dirty.
* Our waitress at Lone Star Friday night was very impressive. She accommodated special requests with no problems, and was attentive to our needs (such as getting refills and cleaning up used plates).
* Why is it that Number Place and Cross Sums, two puzzles that were invented in the U.S. decades ago (and that I've been solving for at least the past ten years) have suddenly become popular in the last year or so? I guess a lot of Americans are just impressed with things that they think are Japanese; by slapping the new names "Sudoku" and "Kakuro" on them (respectively), they've become incredibly popular. I wonder if this works with things other than logic puzzles... maybe I can come up with some new Japanese names for uncommon household items and start raking in the dough marketing them! :-)
davidh
+ 2 - 0 | § ¶Jerald M. Rider, 1942-2006
[Update 3/9, below]My step-father Jerry passed away this morning, about a half-hour ago, and went to be with the Lord.
Yesterday was a difficult day for me. For several hours, Jerry was unresponsive; he couldn't even be woken up to take his medicine. But at some point in the early afternoon (I think it was), he woke up, and was awake off and on for several hours. He knew he didn't have much time left, and there were several conversations about apologies and forgiveness.
One comment in particular that affected me was how he was sorry that there had been so much wasted time between us. When my mother first started dating him, I really didn't like him, for a number of reasons. He was the reason I ran away from home and went to live with my dad full-time. I did not attend Jerry and my mom's wedding, about 15 years ago. When I would visit my mom, I might say "Hi" to him, but we wouldn't really talk.
That changed about five or six years ago. I had been visiting mom, working with her on some famly business, when Jerry collapsed, seemingly from a heart attack[1]. I sat with him and held his hand while mom called 911, trying to comfort him. For the first time, I saw beyond the straw-man I'd constructed out of all of those reasons I had to not like him; I saw him as a real, flesh-and-blood human being. After that, our relationship changed to at least a casual friendship. For example, when I'd come over, I'd greet Jerry with a smile, and mean it. And we'd chit-chat about stuff while I was waiting for mom.
These past few weeks, I started out helping with Jerry for my mom's sake, but as I've taken care of him, I've been surprised at how much my compassion and love for him has grown. Especially last weekend and this weekend, when we had some good talks.
I miss you, Jerry. My life as been touched by getting to know you these past few weeks. I wish we'd've had more time... or used the time we had more wisely. And I look forward to seeing you in Heaven someday.
Side note: The words to the song "We Live" are feeling very significant to me right now.
davidh
[1] - It turned out that it had not been a heart attack, but something relatively minor, though I forget what specifically.
[Update 3/9: The Pantagraph has posted Jerry's obituary.]