dual personalities

Month: January, 2019

January 8, 2019

From the mail department

by chuckofish

screen shot 2019-01-07 at 10.32.14 amI received an email, of which the following is a tidbit, from one of my oldest BFFs to whom I had sent Alleghany Uprising (1939) for Christmas.

Allegheny Uprising was GREAT!!  You would think after reading your blog for years that I would have seen more John Wayne movies, but we had only seen a few classics (Stagecoach, The Quiet Man). That is definitely going to change and “watch more John Wayne movies” may actually qualify as one of my resolutions this year!!

I ask, what could be a better new year’s resolution than that?

As the poet Fernando Pessoa lamented, “One of my life’s tragedies is to have already read Pickwick Papers–I can’t go back and read it for the first time.”  Alas, there are practically no John Wayne movies I can watch for the first time, but, readers, you can!

My son-in-law (DN) is woefully behind in his old movie watching, so I gave him The Great Escape (1963), The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1967) for Christmas–all of which he has not seen. Think of watching them for the first time!

[I must say there are some real spoilers in this trailer!]

Also from the mailbag: One of the books I bought at an estate sale last Saturday was a copy of Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, a favorite of mine. In it he recommends two books that “are always among my things…

…the Bible and the books of the great Danish writer, Jens Peter Jacobsen. I wonder whether you know his works…Get yourself the little volume of Six Stories of J.P. Jacobsen and his novel Niels Lyhne…A world will open up to you, the happiness, the abundance, the incomprehensible immensity of a world. Live a while in these books, learn from them what seems to you worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid to you a thousand and a thousand times…

Sold!

I had never heard of J.P. Jacobsen before, but I will “live a while in these books.”

It’s January–try something new!

1 Comment
January 7, 2019

“As with gladness men of old did the guiding star behold…

by chuckofish

…as with joy they hailed its light, leading onward, beaming bright;

so, most gracious Lord, may we evermore be led to thee.”*

IMG_3809.JPGAs you know, yesterday was the feast of the Epiphany. We got to sing “We Three Kings” in church and the Gospel lesson was the story of the Three Wise Men. The rector preached on the question, “What is it that you are seeking?” It is an important question to ask yourself.

Earlier in the weekend I went to an estate sale and bought a few books and a silver tray. I rescued some old lustreware plates, the kind that no one wants these days–$2 for four plates!

IMG_3811.JPG

I am not “seeking” more old things per se, but sometimes they are thrust upon me.

After that, I cleaned up my office, throwing away and/or recycling a lot of paper that builds up over the year. I did a lot of straightening up and filing. And the OM helped me take down the outside Christmas lights.

Then the wee babes came over on Sunday night to celebrate their mommy’s birthday

IMG_2215.JPGwith meatloaf and ice cream cake.

IMG_6943.jpeg

Hello, Pan Am?

Of course, the babes found all the things I had put away. They love to pull books off the shelves. That is their duty as two-year-olds.The wee laddie is really into Jung.

IMG_3812.JPGThen we watched Three Godfathers (1948) as is our tradition on Epiphany. It is a great tradition because the film is so great.

Screen Shot 2019-01-06 at 2.01.04 PM.png

There were three wise men, Bob, and I’m one of ’em.

I especially noticed how really great it is as I had just watched Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) the night before. The contrast is striking! Okay, I may have thought this VistaVision drama was great as a child…the song as sung by Frankie Laine is stirring…but the movie–direction, acting, screenplay–is terrible. It is one of those westerns that takes itself very seriously, way too seriously. But what is it saying? That is never clear. Burt Lancaster (Wyatt Earp) plays the marshall as a super-straight-laced, duty-bound good guy who is just boring.

Screen Shot 2019-01-06 at 1.41.09 PM.png

Mustn’t react to fiery redhead, Wyatt. That would be wrong.

On the other hand, Kurt Douglas (Doc Holiday) chews the scenery unashamedly in search of a motive and finds none.

Screen Shot 2019-01-06 at 1.47.56 PM.png

Was Ringo there?

He feels nothing but contempt for his girlfriend, but he is still enraged by her leaving him. What? Does he love her after all? Um, no. His actions clearly suggest otherwise. He is just a jerk, then, right? Both of our heroes are kind of jerks. In fact, the only hint of affection in this movie is between Doc and Wyatt, and we don’t want to go there, right? Well, the only character for whom I felt any sympathy was Jo Van Fleet as Kate, the whore. She is treated badly by everyone, but she still tries to help Doc, whom she loves even though he never appreciates her. Their scenes together at least have a little life in them.

Screen Shot 2019-01-06 at 1.38.00 PM.png

Why don’t you put a rope ’round my neck, and pull it when you want me?

The Clantons are just standard bad guys.  All the minor characters are stereotypes played by the B team.

Screen Shot 2019-01-06 at 1.54.07 PM.pngIt is such a mish-mosh! Really, there is no reason to watch it other than the great song by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington which you can hear here. While I was watching, I kept thinking about My Darling Clementine (1946) which in my opinion is the only good movie about the OK Corral. There is plenty of motivation in that movie, as well as character development and great acting. There is darkness in this movie and light. There is contrast. There is affection and friendship, loyalty, love. The real stuff.

Screen Shot 2019-01-06 at 1.57.05 PM.png

Walter Brennan as Ike Clanton, abusive father par excellence

[Interesting side note: John Ireland is in both movies as a member of the Clanton gang. File that one away for trivia night.]

So I guess my point is: watch either John Ford movie (Three Godfathers or My Darling Clementine) to see what a great movie is. Skip the 1950’s next-best-thing-to-color television (Gunfight at the OK Corral).

P.S. Yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the death of President Theodore Roosevelt. Join me in a toast!

Screen Shot 2019-01-06 at 3.41.49 PM.png

He’s not afraid.

*Hymn 119

5 Comments
January 5, 2019

Du calme, du calme*

by chuckofish

We had a pretty quiet week here and I don’t have much to show for it. I’ve been reading a lot.

I took a break from the wonderful, long Kristin Lavransdatter to read Lethal White, the newest volume in Robert Galbraith’s (aka J.K. Rowling’s) Cormoran Strike series. I enjoyed it; the author has maintained her characters well and the plotting was tight, if a little too elaborate. If you’re looking for meaning, you’d be much better off with Sigrid Undset. I’ve dipped into both the Pagels and Karon books and look forward to reading more, and although I’ve already read the Amor Towles books, they are so great that I needed to own them. I love receiving books at Christmas, don’t you?

My viewing week was quite eclectic. Inspired by an article our Idaho son wrote, the DH and I watched the documentary Dawn Wall (available to rent on Amazon) about two men free-climbing El Capitan in Yosemite. Free-climbing is when the climbers ascend without the assistance of aids (pegs, etc…) but are belayed from below so if they fall, they are caught. This is as opposed to free-solo climbing which eschews all ropes and safety devices. Both ways seem crazy to me, but the free-solo people are without question nuts. They do things like this:

Look, ma, no ropes! Alex Honnold free-solos El-Capitan by his fingertips

Nothing has ever made me so happy to be in my house with both feet planted firmly on solid ground.

In addition to watching other people act out their death wishes, I watched Netflix’s (borrowed from the BBC) new series Bodyguard, in which war veteran turned cop tries to save the British Home Secretary from a terrorist threat or perhaps even her own colleagues.

Bodyguard proved to be the expected mix of government conspiracy and backstabbing, twisty politics, although the main character was interesting and it had a better ending than I anticipated. The six-episode length was also a plus, since adding more would have overburdened the already convoluted plot.

Finally, I know you’re wondering whether the kitchen is finished. In lieu of a straight answer I’ll share a telling anecdote. The guys** noticed that our mudroom screen door has no handle (we had to remove it when it got stuck and we couldn’t get in or out of the door) and they offered to fix it. “How wonderful!” I replied. Then I went to the office and left them to it. When I returned home I discovered a shiny new knob

on the inside door, which didn’t need one, and the familiar gaping hole on the screen door.

If that doesn’t perfectly describe our kitchen/mudroom renovation experience, I don’t know what would. The current situation, of which the door handle represents but one minor episode, reminds me of a passage from Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in which Marlow describes the frustration of not being able to repair a wrecked steamboat for want of a few rivets:

Did I see it? I saw it. What more did I want? What I really wanted was rivets, by heaven! Rivets. To get on with the work—to stop the hole. Rivets I wanted. There were cases of them down at the coast—cases—piled up—burst—split! You kicked a loose rivet at every second step in that station-yard on the hillside. Rivets had rolled into the grove of death. You could fill your pockets with rivets for the trouble of stooping down—and there wasn’t one rivet to be found where it was wanted. We had plates that would do, but nothing to fasten them with. And every week the messenger, a long negro, letter-bag on shoulder and staff in hand, left our station for the coast. And several times a week a coast caravan came in with trade goods—ghastly glazed calico that made you shudder only to look at it, glass beads value about a penny a quart, confounded spotted cotton handkerchiefs. And no rivets. Three carriers could have brought all that was wanted to set that steamboat afloat.

Yep, we’re feeling Marlow’s frustration, but we also laugh about it a lot. What else can we do?

*Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

**It’s probably sexist to call them ‘the guys’, but ‘workers’ evokes the Communist Manifesto and they definitely don’t fit that.

6 Comments
January 4, 2019

Friday movie pick

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2019-01-03 at 9.08.06 AM.png

The other night I saw a really good movie: Green Book (2018). Typically (since I liked it), this movie has not done well at the box office. I can’t imagine why not.

Set in 1962 and based on a true story, Green Book tells the story of the friendship that develops between nightclub bouncer Tony Lip Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) and the erudite African-American piano prodigy Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) he has been hired to chauffeur through the Deep South on a concert tour. The two rely on the “Negro Green Motorist Book” to guide them to the motels and restaurants that they can use on the trip.

This is a story about racism and how two people can change. They change because they get to know each other. It is a serious topic handled with a light touch. I guess that is why some critics don’t like it–does this story make the remedy for racism seem too easy? It is a “road” picture. (At times, Don and Tony reminded me of Neal and Del in Planes, Trains and Automobiles--the prissy guy and the gross guy who learn to appreciate each other.) But it is decidedly not a comedy, although the Golden Globe Awards put it in that category. Perhaps its being hard to categorize explains the failure of this movie to be the hit it deserves. Whatever category you put it in, I thought the personal journey of the two men was quite engaging and believable.

Screen Shot 2019-01-03 at 9.13.39 AM.pngThe acting is excellent. Viggo Mortensen is totally convincing as the overweight, tough Tony who loves to eat. (Forget handsome Aragorn of the flowing locks.) He is an actor that becomes the character and his focus is sharp.

[I was reminded of this focus a few weeks ago when I watched Appaloosa (2008) in which Viggo plays Everett Hitch with the same sense of immersion in the character. He is the apparent sidekick in the film who makes you pay attention to him and ultimately his character is, indeed, not the sidekick, but the linchpin of the story. Appaloosa, by the way, is a very good movie if you can stand the presence of the miscast Rene Zellweger.]

Mahershala Ali, who plays the dignified and accomplished Dr. Don Stanley, is also very good and never strays out of character. We feel his pain and understand his motives. We see him change and relax with Tony. We see him learn to trust him.

The direction by Peter Farrelly is impressive. Who knew the director of Dumb and Dumber had such depth? The fact that none of the actors stray out of character for even a moment is surely to his credit. The story flows effortlessly and there is a beginning, a middle, a climax, a denouement. A happy ending. How refreshing.

I heartily recommend this movie! If they gave men Oscars for getting fat and dying their hair for a part, like they do women, Viggo Mortensen would win hands down. However, he deserves an Oscar for his acting.

6 Comments
January 3, 2019

All shall be well

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2019-01-02 at 2.27.12 PM.png

“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.”

― T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding

I do not as a rule make resolutions. However, this year I do resolve to read through the Bible. I am also going to commit to memorizing bible verses. I think this will be good for my flagging memory. My brain needs the exercise.

Remember resolution #28 of Jonathan Edwards’s list of resolutions:

28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

In case you have misplaced your copy of the aforementioned list of resolutions, here it is.

Alain de Botton is correct when he writes, “It is one of the unexpected disasters of the modern age that our new unparalleled access to information has come at the price of our capacity to concentrate on anything much. The deep, immersive thinking which produced many of civilization’s most important achievements has come under unprecedented assault. We are almost never far from a machine that guarantees us a mesmerizing and libidinous escape from reality. The feelings and thoughts which we have omitted to experience while looking at our screens are left to find their revenge in involuntary twitches and our ever-decreasing ability to fall asleep when we should.” (Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion)

I am going to fight that this year. 

The painting is “Looking at the Sea” by Winslow Homer

3 Comments
January 2, 2019

“Don’t kid yourself. These are the good old days.”*

by chuckofish

IMG_3446.jpegWell, after daughter #1 headed back to mid-MO, I set to work putting away Christmas decorations, which is a pretty big job and always kind of sad. However, it was good to say hello to some old friends.

IMG_3769.JPGIMG_3771.JPGIMG_3770.JPGIMG_3808.JPGIMG_3772.JPG

By mid-afternoon, I had everything mostly under control. I was glad we had taken down the big tree on Sunday!

Today, like a lot of people, I am back at work. It was a very nice break, full of family and fun, but I am ready to start the new  year.

Screen Shot 2019-01-01 at 2.05.35 PM.png

Instagram @desiringgod

Onward and upward.

IMG_3440.jpeg

*Nick Charles in The Thin Man (1934)

3 Comments
January 1, 2019

Getting down to work

by chuckofish

Screen Shot 2018-12-31 at 1.42.35 PM.png

“We are always falling in love or quarreling, looking for jobs or fearing to lose them, getting ill and recovering, following public affairs. If we let ourselves, we shall always be waiting for some distraction or other to end before we can really get down to our work. The only people who achieve much are those who want knowledge so badly that they seek it while the conditions are still unfavorable. Favorable conditions never come.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory 

Here’s to 2019 and getting down to work!

“All doors are open to the believer. It is the lesson of the Samaritan woman at the well.”
― Patti Smith, M Train 

*The picture is of fabric by Folly Cove Designer Hetty Beatty Whitney: Victory Garden

3 Comments