— Finished Shirley Jackson’s collected short stories
— Watched Part 1 of John Woo’s 4-hour epic Red Cliff and all I can say is: Holy shitballs. Part 2 hasn’t arrived yet and I am dying to get my filthy paws on it. Wow. Don’t watch it in its truncated American version. That would be a travesty. It’s one of those movies where you can’t imagine WHAT could be cut, without serious damage to the story – even though it is so long. There’s one CGI shot that bugs me, so far, it’s phony, but one thing that bugs me is not enough to throw the baby out with the bathwater. This is an astonishing accomplishment and I haven’t even seen Part 2 yet. Tony Leung is THE. MAN. (No surprise there.) More to come. So far, I am blown away by the picture. Must see.
— My feeling is that Lucy (my niece, 1 year old) now knows who I am, in her lexicon of humanity. She’s getting there. To her, I am “she-she”, and I do wonder how she is putting it all together in her adorable brain. Somehow I am connected with her parents. But before language, how do we figure it all out? It’s beautiful to watch.
— My brother and I had two three-hour drives recently and all we talked about was books and movies and music. I wish I had tape recorded it. It was an incredible conversation. At the end of the drive, we were like, “So how are you doing in your life? Okay? Things going good?” Typical O’Malley behavior. You walk in the door, and before you even have your coat off, someone asks you, “So … what are you reading?” I love my family.
— Working on my script.
— Recently, the ex-boyfriends have (respectively) been driving me crazy. I’m in actual fights with two of them, which is so tiresome and stupid I don’t even want to get into it. I’m glad we’re in fights, actually. It’s about time. And then there’s Michael (he of Kwik Stop fame). Our correspondence isn’t constant, that’s fine, we’ve gone years without speaking, but when we do, it is heartfelt and very much appreciated. I dated him for 6 weeks, and yet we are friends for life. I’m grateful. It’s hard to remember to be grateful, but I am. We are actors, we are now writers, we are into what the other is doing, we remember who we were, we accept who we are now, and we are excited to see what the other is going to do next.
— More traveling coming up. Seattle, perhaps. My family trip to New Hampshire.
— Put together a new bookcase the other day, on the hottest day so far in this muggy awful patch. There was a moment when I thought – oh shit, I need to call in the boys for help on this (after all, it wouldn’t be the first time), but I stuck it out, with my tools and my diagram, and put it together successfully, and felt like a very butch rock star when it was all complete. For someone like me, with a library that rivals the Library of Congress, and yet living in a 2 bedroom apartment – the arrangement of books is key. My clothes could be in a pile in the corner, I couldn’t give a shit, but if my books are out of order, then I stop knowing who I am. I feel scattered. And so having a bookcase arrangement where I have space to spare, as I do now, places to expand, is hugely calming. I don’t mind doubling up on shelves, and placing books on top of other books. I am not precious with my library. But it is nice to know that there actually IS space if I need it.
— Going to the theatre tonight. Have no idea what I am about to see, and I love that.
— When will Part 2 of John Woo’s Red Cliff arrive? I can’t bear it.
— Speaking of John Woo, I love Face/Off – had a conversation today with my cousin Liam about that movie. Liam called to ask me if there was a specific version of Ulysses he should buy, and if he should get an annotated version. Have I mentioned I love my family? So we talked about Ulysses (Me: “Nah, don’t get an annotated version. It’s a dumb book. No plot. It’s stupid. Just read it for the language. That’s what Dad said.”), and Alexandre Dumas and the Beatles and our families, and then somehow we segued into John Woo – because, of course, that’s what you do when you talk with your cousin. You segue from James Joyce to John Woo. Liam and I were raving about Face/Off. What a RIDICULOUS film. What an EFFECTIVE film. I saw that movie at a small theatre in Greenwich Village (no longer with us, unfortunately) – with my friend Rebecca, and we bought sushi beforehand and brought it in with us, eating with chopsticks as we watched the film. It was that kind of movie theatre. What I love about that movie is that yes, you have incredible action sequences, and a speedboat chase that makes you scream out loud as you watch it, and you have a finale with doves flying around (typical John Woo), and ominous dudes strolling into a church for a showdown, but what it is REALLY about is identity. It has deep themes, Philip K. Dick themes. What is identity? Are we our faces? If I had a different face, would I be a different person? Where does identity come from? What makes us what we are? And yet it’s all packaged in this ridiculous and awesome device, where John Travolta is playing Nic Cage and Nic Cage is playing John Travolta, and it’s campy (like John Woo movies often can be), but without betraying that deeper subject. I love Face/Off, it’s been years since I’ve seen it, but after talking with Liam today I think I need to own it. And seriously: where is that Postman with Part 2??
Whoa. I just watched the trailer for Red Cliff.
Damn.
Also, when is Tony Leung *not* the man?
Oh, Noonz – you gotta see it!!! Bump it to the top of the queue!
I say this selfishly – so at least we can talk about it.
AMAZING!!!
and yes: Tony Leung is just a freakin’ movie star. He is so damn good.
Tony Leung in Infernal Affairs = incredible. He’s one of the reasons I’ve put off seeing The Departed. I feel like I’d be “cheating” on IA.
My notes on your notes :) —
Your comment about Shirley Jackson reminds me of how I feel reading Roger Angell. It’s like staring into the sun.
I cannot wait for the moment my dear friend (like a sister) Heather’s son Llewelyn knows who I am in the way you describe with Lucy.
Your comments about putting together a bookcase and ex-boyfriends somehow prompted my brain to remember this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx9K8JL_XIs
It’s really too bad my Nic Cage rule will prevent me from ever seeing Face / Off. But I think I enjoy your interpretation of the movie more than I would actually like watching it.
Beth – hahahahaha that is such a funny video
Noonz – It’s worthwhile to see Leung in In the Mood for Love, and Love, Lust, Caution – it’s other colors he hasn’t shown – he’s a sex symbol, marvelous, really.
And Beth – can’t you bend the Nic Cage rule?? hahahaha He really is great in it – although it’s really Travolta’s movie. Travolta is the nice guy who then gets Nic Cage’s evil face, and has to BE Nic Cage for the movie – it’s phenomenal.
It’s sick, I tell you, SICK!
Well, the Nic Cage Rule exists to protect me and others from how much I really and truly hate him. So it’s kind of a safety issue. :)
And Supernews is the best kept secret in TV / completely free, hilarious cartoon podcasts. I can’t fathom why it’s not more popular, at least among people I know.
I love John Woo – his movies with Chow Yun Fat got me into HK cinema. I will move Red Cliff up in the netflix queue, but I like beth I have avoided his U.S. output.
I bought the international version and it’s waiting for a marathon viewing night. I burned out on Woo’s and Chow Yun Fat’s bleh projects in the last decade so I was hopeful for this, and sorry I missed it’s 11 minute theatrical release.
Of course Chow and DeNiro can get together now for a formula cop buddy picture while Woo and Leung do something that people actually care about.
Sheila,
Havenât spent nearly enough time meandering through your archives as Iâd like (you bear the brunt of the blame here â voluminous output equals daunting task â task is obviously the wrong word, itâs more to do with time). But I have this going for me; itâs only a matter of time.
And thatâs another thing I like about your blog â your stream of consciousness links to the past out of the blue. Red Cliff, other stuff, John Woo, other stuff, Face/Off, identity, Philip K. Dick themes… PHILIP K. DICK THEMES! â got to read that – and I just did.
Thanks for the serendipities.
I love that your niece is calling you “she-she.” Too cute.
You can always work that to your advantage, like my brother. His granddaughter started calling him “boobah” when she was around one, and he kept gently correcting her until she started calling him what he wanted to be called: “poobah” It’s hilarious. She’s seven now and she’s still calling him that.
Although, I don’t know what variation from “she-she” could be worked into some sort of magisterial moniker. Hmmm. Have to think on that. ;)
I remember Janet Maslin on a critic’s roundtable that served the double function of looking over that summer’s blockbusters and eulogizing the recently departed Jimmy Stewart and Robert Mitchum elegantly summing up the problem with modern-day Hollywood: that of all the films in release, Face/Off was the only one that would have needed Stewart and Mitchum, required anything of its leads beyond standing and staring iconically at the chaos and explosions surrounding them.
Sheila: “Travolta is the nice guy who then gets Nic Cage’s evil face, and has to BE Nic Cage for the movie – it’s phenomenal.”
That scene where he explains to “his” daughter how to deal with boyfriends with roaming hands, flashing the butterfly knife with cold assurance, is so hilarious and oddly touching in the sincerity of his counsel. You can see the villain in him warm up to the notion of responsibility, of passing on the advice you really need to get along in this world but will never hear from the upright, uptight assholes who run things. It doesn’t hurt that it’s right on the heels of that awesome bit where he drags the date out the car window, every bit the overprotective father.
If you’ve a Cage allergy, Beth, you should skip it; he’s pretty much at his Cage-iest here, and the first five minutes, which I find wicked and delightful, will probably set you frothing in rage.
Red Cliff is phenomenal, sweeping and yet intimately grounded in a way no epic has pulled off since Anthony Mann. The battle formations that climax Part 1 are as breathtaking as any setpiece I’ve seen, but so’s the birth of a pony. And Leung’s introduction is precisely what you want from your philosophical warrior heroes.
Bruce – it really is Travolta’s movie. He gets the juicy stuff. That scene you mention is my favorite scene in the film. It is perverse. Hysterical.
And about Red Cliff: It was the birth of the pony scene when I thought to myself, “I am in LOVE with this movie.”
Yes, Tony Leung’s entrance, put off until we’re well under way, was such a great star entrance. So satisfying. Part 2 arrives tomorrow. I am so impatient!!
Kathy – Poobah! I love it!!
I hope that Lucy continues with the “she she”. I will miss it when she moves on to my real name.
Im so envious that you have a book-reading family. My daughter takes after me in that regard, and when family members try to pry the book from her, I dont take their side.
Sheila & Kathy – ROFL!!!! I love how nicknames come about!
As a dovetail about your musings about identity, a lot of adoptees have the same issue – I suggest (for non-fiction reading) the book “Primal Wound” by Nancy Verrier. Identity has been a very RAW subject for me (adoptee) in the last few years…I love that youre wondering how your neice “puts it all together” – thats the key that a lot of adoptees have been delving into…
Sharon – fascinating. I hadn’t even thought of it in terms of adoptees. I’d love to hear more, if you feel comfortable sharing. Verrier’s book sounds quite good.
Bruce – I also LOVED when they “flipped the shields”, blinding the oncoming forces. That was just damn cool.
Just got a notification from Netflix: Part 2 arrives tomorrow!