dual personalities

The children are away and the husband is at a conference so I’m enjoying a quiet day (and two nights) at home alone. I have so much to do that I kind of feel like this:

I’m sure you can relate. So far, I’ve managed to achieve a truly advanced level of avoidance behavior. If you don’t count the laundry I had to do last night after spilling tomato soup all over myself, I’ve accomplished exactly nothing. But I have watched two movies. The first was Ip Man: the legend is born, a Chinese martial arts flick. It had good fighting and pretty scenery, but a typically melodramatic love story. Here’s the Chinese trailer:

The main character, Ip Man, was appealing, but the movie ultimately forgettable. I gather the first one, Ip Man, is much better (Ip Man: the Legend Begins is a prequel).

I also watched a delightful French romantic comedy called Populaire. It’s about a secretary whose boss wants her to become a speed typing world champion.

Populaire was immensely enjoyable, although the leading man didn’t quite fit the bill. No doubt a fine actor, he was woefully miscast — or maybe it was just that he so desperately needed to have dental work done. I admit to finding his bad mouth/jaw really distracting. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this light and amusing film. I must say, though, that I long to see a really really good, new-in-the- sense-that-I-haven’t-seen-it movie. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is there anything really good on Netflix?

While we are avoiding our duties or too busy fulfilling them, let’s not forget that today is December 7th — the day the perfidious Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and pulled us into WWII — a colossal miscalculation on their part if ever there was one. December 7th is also the day that Ernest Shackleton’s ship, The Endurance, first met pack ice just two days south of South Georgia Island. By January 18th the ship had become icebound. Thus began one of history’s most amazing survival stories. Je me souviens.