... a confluence of these different sensory details:
-- wind-storm outside
-- slate grey sky, bare trees whipping in the wind, grass shriveled and brown
-- the dark grey Hudson River, darker than the sky
-- the sound of the rattling window panes
-- warm cozy lamplight inside, a pot of coffee brewing
-- a morning of writing accomplished at my desk (in its new spot!)
-- a leisurely watching of Ball of Fire, starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck, a movie I have almost memorized by now. ("Those must be the statistics on San Salvador saltpeter." "Miss O'Shea ... could you ... yum-yum me ... one more time?") I love it. It's such a satisfying movie.
It is the disparity between the indoor and outdoor world that leads to true contentment. Outside is bleak and inhospitable. Inside is warm and safe.
Posted by sheilaHappiness is hearing "WORLD CHAMPION Boston Red Sox" and anticipating them smacking the Yankees around one more time tonight. :-)
Posted by: Dave J at April 3, 2005 8:07 PMdid gary cooper ever make a bad movie?, or did howard hawks ever direct a bad movie movie. gary was a great actor. most of my friends will not watch his movies because they are BW. I still remember the first time i saw bringing up baby and also arsenic and old lace. as far am i'm concerned watching those movies is a major event in my life. watch the old ones and be cool, don
Posted by: don at April 4, 2005 2:57 AM"It is the disparity between the indoor and outdoor world that leads to true contentment"
Yes. Exactly. There are few things nicer than being home on an evening when it's 40* and raining, and having a new book to read.
On the other hand, there are few things more disheartening than it being 40* and raining in the evening, and having a meeting you must go out to.
Posted by: ricki at April 4, 2005 8:18 AMUnless it's waking up to three inches of snow on April 2.
Posted by: Ken Hall at April 4, 2005 8:33 AMThe Fountainhead, starring Gary Cooper, was pretty damn bad.
Posted by: red at April 4, 2005 9:48 AM""It is the disparity between the indoor and outdoor world that leads to true contentment""
Y'know, one of my favorite things is driving on a -30 night in the dead of winter with my coat off, the heat just right, looking out at the frozen landscape...
...although reading during a rainstorm is a longtime favorite, too...
Posted by: mitch at April 4, 2005 10:21 AMNobody - not even Gary Cooper - could make watching something authored by Ayn Rand an enjoyable experience...
Posted by: MikeR at April 4, 2005 12:09 PMMike R - hahahahahahahahaha! When I had to read Atlas Shrugged I was literally praying for death to take me.
Posted by: Emily at April 4, 2005 12:18 PMAtlas Shrugged isn't bad if you skip all the polemic. A friend told me to bypass the entire 80-something page radio address plus any politicalized discourse--which I did and which makes the book almost read like a thriller. And I agree that the movie is BLEAK--bleaker than two inches of snow in April.
Posted by: AF at April 4, 2005 12:58 PMI didn't mind the bleakness so much. I just thought it sucked.
Posted by: red at April 4, 2005 1:00 PMMy first and so far last Ayn Rand was We the Living, and I loved it utterly. I fell completely in love with Kira Argounova and I don't think I ever recovered. I was 14 or 15 or so; it must have been relentlessly soppy.
Posted by: Linus at April 4, 2005 2:06 PMSheila - hahahaha. Me too.
Posted by: Emily at April 4, 2005 2:16 PMLinus, I also found Anthem a quick, relatively easy and not altogether awful read. Yes, she lays it on thick, but it's really only a novella, so there's only so far she can get carried away with that.
Posted by: Dave J at April 4, 2005 2:33 PMIn terms of Rand, I think it's pretty much impossible for anyone who's a truly committed ideologue to be a great artist, because when push comes to shove, ideology has to come before telling the truth. Truth is messy and inconsistent and often embarrassing and it just doesn't work very well for the ideologically rigid...
Posted by: MikeR at April 4, 2005 6:43 PM