Sitting on the bus yesterday. It was the first really cold night we’ve had. My packages surrounding me: tea lights, oil fragrances for my diffuser thingie that I am addicted to, also a car fragrance thing for my car (Yankee Candle: Lemon Lavendar scent).
iPod playing Backstreet Boys. BLARING Backstreet Boys. “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)”, to be specific. I can barely hold myself back from leaping up and dancing in the aisles. You know … that cockatoo bird was moved to dance to the song … and so am I.
Nose in a book: Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (Penguin Classics)
I can listen to Backstreet Boys as I read about the Holocaust. I see no problem here.
I curled up in bed last night and watched Notting Hill for, oh, the 5000th time. It never pales. I don’t know why. It’s a simple pleasure for me. It’s a tossup between Notting Hill and About a Boy (another favorite). They just satisfy. They do not challenge … they satisfy. Most of the time I’m in the mood for a challenge. But when I’m not? Let’s watch Notting Hill or About a Boy. True, Dean Stockwell is not in either of these films … but that’s a forgivable lapse in judgment on the part of the directors.
After finishing Notting Hill, I read some more of Hannah Arendt’s book … while listening to Britney Spears’ “In the Zone” (I think that “Toxic” is pretty much the highpoint of what is now, obviously, her sadly short career. Great song). Again. Britney Spears. Holocaust. Makes perfect sense.
Woke up to the first snow.
Yes, perfect sense, Sheila. Uhm, what is this diffuser thingie you speak of? I think I was looking at something called a “diffuser thingie” in the Pottery Barn catalog yesterday. Is it like a glass with scented oils and sticks that soak up the oils and make everything smell good? Are we talking about the same thing?
Because I really think I need me some glass and oils and sticks. I do.
Tracey – I don’t know the real name of the damn things!! But yes – you get little unscented tea lights, burn them under the oil-burner thing – put some fragrance in the bowl that you like … and voila: awesome scents flow.
Better than candles, I think.
Like this ….
Notting Hill is one of my favorite movies. I’ve never seen About a Boy, but if it is just as good, I’ll definately rent it sometime.
Oh redfish – it’s SOOOO good. Rent it!!! It just WORKS.
Also, Tracey:
//I was looking at something called a “diffuser thingie” in the Pottery Barn catalog yesterday.//
HAHAHAHA
yes. that is the official name.
I can’t think of a better way to read about the Man in the Glass Booth than to have Britney chiming in the background.
ONLY YOU SHEILA! HA HA HA!
(now if only poor Heidigger-loving Hannah Arendt had an i-pod while covering the trial; might’ve lifted her spirits a bit–esp. the ones giving her trouble possibly about having once been the girlfriend/philosophical acolyte of a Nazi sympathizer).
(and god knows what Eichmann would’ve done with an i-pod; probably tune out listening to his favorite oom-pa-pa band).
More to the point, though: I agree that”Toxic” is truly Britney’s brightest gem. So bright, in fact, that it’s covered well–if not performed even more captivatingly–by the Chapin Sisters (have you heard them? folk trio of three actual sisters, two of them the late Harry Chapin’s nieces); and by Stevie Ann, a singing wonder from Holland.
Here are some links where you can hear the cover:
http://www.myspace.com/thechapinsisters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG6N1f7Ws2k&feature=related
Happy December!
Eichmann with an ipod. A frightening thought. Arendt’s observations on how he uses language … how it is all about finding moments that “elated” him (do you remember that??) – is FASCINATING. How he couldn’t remember anything unless it had affected him directly.
shivers.
And yes, I am very interested by her ‘take’ on it – which is definitely ambivalent, to some degree.
The Man in the Glass Booth! Seriously – the level of denial that man had to have … just to get thru the day … and yet there he was bragging, to friends in Argentina, about how he was personally responsible for the deaths of millions … Like he couldn’t hold himself back from taking “credit” for it. “I did that!!” he cooed to whoever would listen.
The psychology of that is riveting to me.
I am glad that you agree with me on “toxic”. Terrific song!! I will check out those links.
Holy shit. Stevie Ann. My God!!!
I know. Isn’t she great? Total accidental finding while looking for the Chapin Sisters. And here’s another (funny) cover of the song done by Nickel Creek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAevk5H9UWA&feature=related
And speaking of toxicity, my father, who was a medical student in Jerusalem at the time of the trial, attended the proceedings–which were, as you probably know from Arendt book, open to the public. According to him, the whole “banality of evil” catchphrase that Arendt coined is truly apt given Eichmann’s demeanor throughout those months. He sat there as if waiting to get through a not-too-particularly exciting car wash (though Arendt certainly has her detractors–one of the most vocal ones being the late, Holocaust-surviving Jerzy Kosinski, who hated her famous phrase, for various weird reasons of his own, often twisting it around and asking: “But what about the evil of banality?”
Poor taste, possibly, on Kosinski’s part. Then again: he wasn’t the one reading the tome while listening to Britney.
(no, seriously: I think it’s fucking hilarious you did that.)
And, yes, the whole boasting about having killed millions: what is that about? I suppose if mass-murder has always been your baseline, then boasting about it makes sense–esp. if after fifteen years no one’s caught up with you and you don’t have much else on your resume).
Next up: Mein Kampf…to the strains of “Umbrella,” by Rihanna.
Jon – you and I have had an interesting conversation about Kozinski before – in some post I had written about Reds, and his portrayal (chilling, wonderful) of Zinoviev. I’d love to read more from him, especially about the trial.
The trial must have been, even then, a media circus. Did you have to get on a list to be allowed in? Or could you just show up and jostle your way to a seat?
How weird – and awful – it must have been to have been faced with Eichmann … I can’t even imagine!
Also, I love how you connected the two random elements of my post with the very simple phrase:
“and speaking of toxicity …”
hahahaha Well done!
Care to elaborate on what a challenging movie would be? I think it sounds like the sort of thing I wouldn’t like. I am a huge fan of About a Boy, a favorite of the last several years.
Pat – kind of a silly question considering how broad the topic is. And … right off the bat you assume you wouldn’t like “it” because “it” is challenging? Even though so many different types of films would fit under this category?
Challenging. Anything that makes you think, ponder, reflect, feel pain, anguish, forgiveness … I don’t know. What does “challenging” mean to you? Does it have some other meaning?
I find some foreign films challenging – because I have to be in the mood to deal with subtitles.
I find some Cassavetes films challenging because I am unable to remain a passive viewer – he demands engagement – and it’s painful sometimes. He’s one of my favorites – but I need to be in the mood.
I find Bergman challenging.
I find a movie like “Safe” challenging – almost difficult to watch – but marvelous nonetheless.
Etc.
Etc.
I don’t know, there are 5000 examples I could think of – but your mind already seems closed with the “i don’t think I would like it” comment.
I can come up with two types of challenging movies – The what-the-hell-did-it-mean type of movie, Mulholland Drive is one, Donnie Darko is another. And the type of movie with a – the world is a tough place – point of view, maybe trying to make a somewhat weighty philosophical point, I think No Country For Old Men is of that type. I can’t think of large numbers of either type of film.
Perhaps it’s best not to construct a personality profile based on a single sentence meant tongue in check, although no way for you to know that, I should have ended that sentence with one of those ;) things I suppose…..
Sheila,
You may not remember be from our top-shelf writer’s group, but it’s me! Kat. Just saw Kathy in California with her new bambina. Gorgeous baby. Love your descriptions above. I miss NYC. But I felt like I was there for a moment.
Cheers
2007 Books Read
(in the order in which I finished them, understanding that very often I read many books at the same time). I count re-read books, by the way. I’ll include links to any posts or book excerpts I might have done…