Movies About Movies

 We watched the Oscars last night along with about a billion other people.  Not many surprises.  I would have chosen "The Descendants" or " Midnight in Paris" for best picture - but that's just me.

The dresses were stunning, of course.  Lots of talk today about Angelina's leg and Ja-Lo's chest. 

But I was thinking most today about how many movies are made about movies.  And how many of them have been nominated for Oscars.  The answer to both questions is "a lot." 

For instances, two of the movies nominated for best picture last night are about movies.  The "Artist," of course won.  But "Hugo" has a movie theme.  Michelle Williams and Kenneth Borough were both nominated for their movie "My Week with Marilyn" which is about Marilyn Monroe making a movie called "The Prince and the Show Girl."

Following are a few of my favorite movies about movies.  Unfortunately "The Artist" isn't among them.

- "Singin' in the Rain"  - as you know from past blogs, this is my favorite.

- "Sunset Boulevard" - creepy but a great story.

- "The Bad and the Beautiful" - Kurt Douglas and Lana Turner.

- "The Purple Rose of Cairo" - Jeff  Daniels comes off the screen and into the theater.  Cool.

- "Blazing Saddles" - beyond description.


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A Dangerous Method

A certain degree of neurosis is of inestimable value as a drive, especially to a psychologist.
- Sigmund Freud

Dave and I saw the movie, "A Dangerous Method" a while back.  Don't feel bad if you have heard of it.  It's not a mainstream movie. 

It's basically about early days of psychoanalysis and the love/hate relationship between Carl Jung and his mentor Sigmund Freud. 

The definition of psychoanalysis involves mental health issues that develop out of unmet or traumatic sexual issues - and some other stuff.

It also involves the analyst facing away from the patient rather than facing the patient.

Carl Jung has an interesting way of treating his most famous female patient.  It involves a long term, weird, kinky, violent sexual relationship.

But I liked the movie.  It wasn't boring.  And I learned some things.  For instance, I learned that only the very wealthy were recognized as being worthy of treatment.  Jung didn't even acknowledge those who were there to serve him.  As far as I could see, neither Freud no Jung showed the slightest compassion. 

Michael Fassbender plays the wildly uptight Carl Jung.  Viggo Mortenson plays the wildly insecure Sigmund Freud. Keira Knightly plays the crazy patient who becomes Jung's crazy mistress and, later on, a therapist. 

Vincent Cassel plays Otto Gross, a crazy therapist turned patient turned therapist - who could have coined the phrase "If it feels good, do it." 


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The Eames Chair Saga

The Eames Chair, properly called the Eames Lounge, was released in 1956 by designers Charles and Ray Eames.  Designed for a high end market, they were (and are) prized by architects. 

Dave scraped up the money to buy his Eames Chair in 1969.  It's a work of art.  Most folks who come to the condo don't know what it is but those who do - drool.  Needless to say, Dave loves his chair - and has loved it for 43 years.  That's about 39 years longer than he's loved me.

A week ago Sunday I was sitting in the Eames enjoying my hot tea and the Sunday paper when I heard a big CREAK!  It was cold outside and warm inside so I thought one of the sun room windows had shattered.  I got up and investigated but they were fine.

So I got back all snuggled up in my chair when, along with another CREAK, I was flung over onto the floor.  And on the floor with me was half of the Eames Chair. 

I called Dave who was still asleep to help me get untangled.  He was sweet, loving and gentle getting me up and checking for injuries.

But within 10 minutes he was on the computer investigating what to do about the chair.  It won't be an easy (or cheap) fix.  Yes, the Eames was badly injured.  This is how it looks today.  


Yes, we're still married.


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Making Amends

A while back I picked up a little murder mystery at the library.  Escapism.  As it turned out it was about a former detective who lost everything due to alcoholism and, in this story, is solving a crime while attending daily AA meetings and trying to stay sober.  At the same time, he's working through his 12 Steps.  Number 8 is "Making Amends." 

This is when you try to - no only apologize - but to make amends - for all of the terrible things you've done.  Not an easy thing to do.  In the novel, step number 8 gets the victim, also a recovering alcoholic,  killed. 

And now, in this morning's paper, conservative columnist, Cal Thomas, writes a column about making amends to Rachel Maddow.  This story has nothing to do with alcoholism but everything to do with seeking forgiveness in this politically heated climate.

Last week, Cal Thomas was on a panel before a crowd of about 1,000 conservatives.  A clip was played of Rachel Maddow commenting on the Catholic contraception issue.  Thomas responded, and I quote:

I think she's the best argument in favor of her parents using contraception...and all the rest of the crowd at MSNBC, too, for that matter.

Cal Thomas, to my knowledge, has always been a gentleman and has, many times, tried to find common ground with the most liberal folks around. 

Thomas continues, The next morning I felt bad about it, so I called Ms. Maddow to apologize.   It wasn't one of those meaningless, 'If I've offended anyone...' apologies; it was heartfelt.  I had embarrassed myself and was a bad example to those who read my column and expect better from me.

Maddow could not have been more gracious...On her show she said publicly, ' I completely believe his apology.  I completely accept his apology.' 

To be forgiven by one you have wronged is a blessing; it's even cleansing. 

All of this is a blessing to me.  Cal Thomas and Rachel Maddow, who've never met, are going to have lunch together soon.  I'm sure they'll find common ground.


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Wastin' Away in Key West

Nibblin on sponge cake
Watchin the sun bake
All of those tourists covered with oil

Strummin my six-string
On my front porch swing
Smellin those shrimps
They're beginnin to boil

Wastin' away in Margritiaville,
Lookin' for my lost shaker of salt...,

Jimmy Buffet, 1977

We just had a really fun 3 days in Key West.  We were with friends we love.  Nobody was high maintenance.  Here are a couple of hints for having a safe and sane but fun va-ca in our southern most city.

Airtran - Driving to KW from Orlando takes about 8 or 9 hours.  As you know, I don't do anything for that long.  Airtran flies direct.  Sometimes you can get on line tickets for $69.  I found us an extra special price of $35. 

Fogarty's - Best fish sandwich - Ever!

Tour Bus - I like hop on hop off city bus tours.  If the driver's entertaining I like to take the entire  trip - then decide where to go.  All of our drivers were hilarious.

Butterfly Conservatory - This may not seem like a wild and crazy place to you but we loved it.  It's been voted #1 Key West attraction by People's Choice Awards. 

Hemingway House - Ernest Hemingway was a wild and crazy guy! I've read almost everything he wrote.  Early on, he lived for 9 years in this house  And most scholars agree that he did his best work here.  The house is smaller than I'd imagined with a wrap around porch and beautiful gardens.  Dozens of 6-toed cats make themselves at home.

Art  and  Historical Society (Old Customs House) - The house, itself, is grand.  All red brick with life like statuary on the porches.  Lots of history inside. 

Mallory Square - This is where everybody goes to see the sunset.  Of course, most of us can see the sunset on any given night if we just walk outside.  But we wouldn't have hundreds of other folks with us, including the French guy with the trained cats - and the people from the cruise ships.

Two Fun Facts - When you're in Key West you're much closer to Cuba than to mainland USA.  Dave took all of these photos.

By the way, we didn't get any more "wasted" than Jimmy Buffet (one of the hardest working men in show biz) does - that is to say - not at all.  But Dave did have a Margarita one night.  And I had a sip.

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This Is All About You

I'm a numbers gal.  I love stats.  This blog has a statistics page.  It counts page views.  It gives me an idea of how many of you "view" various pages and where you are.  No, not your address!  Just your country. 

I am always totally blown away when I look at these stats.  For instance, it lists the ten most viewed posts.  By far the most consistently viewed posts are:

"Me and Bobby McLaughlin."  I wrote this post several years ago while I was in Stillwater, Minnesota. As a young man Bobby McLaughlin was falsely accused of murder, convicted and sent to prison.  His foster parents worked until they found the evidence to prove him innocent.  A movie was made of his life starring Brenden Fraser, with Martin Sheen playing his dad.  When I met Bobby in Stillwater it was obvious that he'd had a hard life but he was happy to tell us his story and I was honored to hear it.

"The Getty.  Last spring Dave and I went to the Getty Museum in Los Angles and I wrote about it as I do about many cool places we visit.  This posting also, consistently gets a number of hits.

For instance, this week 34 of you viewed "Me and Bobby McLaughlin" and 18 of you viewed "The Getty."

But the most astonishing stats are where you, my faithful readers, are.  Always, of course, the vast majority of you (thousands) are in the U.S.  Then the U.K. and Canada.  Makes sense.

But, for instance, this week I had 8 views in Russia (about average for Russia), 5 in Serbia and 2 in Bangladesh.

Are you kidding me?  Bangladesh? 

Also we have regular readers in India, Irland, Iran .... and those are just the "I's."

In the past month I've had 30 views in Russia and 16 in the Netherlands.  In the past two years I've had 251 views in Australia.  (Hi, Ashley.)

I started this blog in 2007 because I knew I was starting a whole new life.  I titled it "My Best Time" because it is.  This is true even though I'd already had a wildly fulfilling long life.  This is also the most fun I've ever had writing, even though I've been doing it for 50 years.

Thanks for continuing to share the adventure with me.   I know I don't make it easy to leave comments - but you can do it if you're patient.  Also you can always e-mail me.  I always answer.


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Brown Spots

Both my brother and I have olive complexions like our dad.  My brother still has beautiful skin but my dad, who was a handsome man, developed serious brown spots on his face when he got old.  And now, me too! 

Sometimes when I get up in the morning and pull a tee shirt over my head, my dad's face pops out the top.  Yikes!

A few weeks ago, while Dave and I were having breakfast on Park Avenue, I was thinking about how I might need to do something like dab bleach on my cheeks.  Then we started our walk and I saw one of those Signs From God. 

On the sidewalk, in front of the Origins shop, was a big sign that read "Brown Spots."  I think it's out there every Saturday but, like a person who's hit bottom in other areas of life, I thought it was there for me. 

We went in and a nice young man in a turtle neck showed us just what he thought I needed.  I wasn't sure but Dave insisted on buying the stuff for me - about eighty bucks worth. 

We bought the high potency brightening peel pad with fruit acids and the Mega-Bright skin tone correction serum.  I've faithfully used about half the pads and half the serum so far.

And I can't see a nickels worth of difference!  Much less eighty dollars worth.  But I still have hopes - and I promise not to try the bleach - for a while anyway.


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