MOVIES FOR WINTER NIGHTS, PART II

Here I sit, late at night, toes frozen, in my paper strewn office, tapping away on a prehistoric computer keyboard, to tell you more about the movies I have been watching this winter. The first is John Adams, the lavish HBO miniseries that has been hoisted with high acclaim.

It stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Lynley, two stars I would never think of putting together. Consummate actors, they manage to spin a grand illusion throughout this long and increasingly tedious production. The first few episodes are truly remarkable and surging, but this dramatic tension is slowly lost over the following episodes. Adams did not apparently spend the Revolutionary War fighting the war – he was overseas talking, talking, talking, in diplomatic circles.

This movie gave me great blocks of information about our Founding Fathers but I really wanted to see the story plunged back into some good rollicking Revolutionary action. Call me a typical American: we just love a good battle! Besides, with respect to John Adams, the real unsung hero of this movie is the Founding Mother of Our Country, Abigail Adams. This movie is, however, worthy of the time it takes to see it. As Americans, we need a good cup of wake-up coffee to remind. The production values here are stupendous, the costumes, the historical accuracy of the customs shown (the treatment of a woman’s breast cancer and early small pox inoculations), the movie is a crafted piece that stands with high value despite being dialogue heavy.

MOVIES FOR WINTER NIGHTS, PART I

I’ve been in Winter Cave Mode ever since Thanksgiving. Plus, I am an extreme night owl who stays up late. I’m writing this at 2:43 AM. So, during the winter nights, my routine is to go into my castle, pull up the draw bridge, and set out the dragons. The cats and I build a fire and have dinner watching a variety of offbeat movies that many have not heard about….

The first film is an odd little piece with Alan Rickman called Snowcake. It is about a man who just got out of prison (Rickman’s character) and his chance meeting with a woman who is an adult autistic (played in raw form by Sigourney Weaver, sans make-up). The location is rural, snowy, small-town Canada where all strangers are viewed with caution. The emotional ride the film offers feels cold and emotionally struggling. However, the story gives the expected 25 mgs of meaningfulness at the end. The real value of the film is to observe Rickman and Weaver out of their usual roles and trying something different.

The second film is another Rickman flick that is much more engaging and emotionally satisfying called Something the Lord Made. This film is highly recommended for those viewers who like to have a little dose of virtue and history mixed together in their movies – along with a bit of a bow tied up at the end. The bow is true, and the truth of this movie is its satisfaction. It is an account of legendary medical pioneers Dr. Alfred Blalock (Rickman) and Vivien Thomas (played superbly by Mos Def) and their struggle to find a cure for the Blue Baby Syndrome. The film is also about much more, in that Vivien Thomas was a black, uneducated man in the 1930s who started his medical career cleaning out Dr. Blalock’s laboratory. It took decades for Thomas to get the credit he deserved as Dr. Blalock’s true partner, if not leader, in inventing the surgical strategies that lead to the survival of many children.

Get your warm socks on and lets make some coco…

POST SCRIPT

Well, it happened. I now have a lovely TROJ_Generic.DIT virus in my computer. I got it right after writing that last blog about Mercury in Retrograde causing computer gliches and a number of other electrical/communication/connection problems. Now, this virus is being talked about all over the internet. Self-fulfilling prophecy? Not unless I can invent a computer virus. I don't know that much about computers.

Maybe I manifested it out of thin air. Maybe, maybe....

...but that would mean that our thoughts have power and they bring events into physical existence. And that would be magick, wouldn't it?

MERCURY IN RETROGRADE

Mercury in Retrograde. It’s coming. We are sliding toward it. That yucky period four times a year when the planet Mercury seems to go backward and Murphy’s Law reigns supreme. There are more accidents, travel delays, miscommunications, faxes/texts/voice mails that are never received, computer problems, contractual disputes, verbal misundertandings and divorces considered.

I always notice more police and ambulance flashers along Phoenix streets during this time. Unfortunately, I see a lot more serious car crack-ups and subsequent little white crosses several weeks later. When my clients are leaving my office, I ask them to be extra careful about their during this time.

I used to warn all my friends about it – all my friends, that is, who believe or who are "pre-believers" or, just open. Several years ago, a friend of mine (let’s call her Jan) told me I was being negative. So, I stopped warning her and she called me up about two weeks into a Mercury in Retrograde period. She said she wanted to know all the dates of that year’s Mercury in Retrogrades so she could “plan my travel around it.”

“But you said that you didn’t believe,” I asked her.

“I didn’t!” she said. “But my car broke down during this time, my hotel arrangements got all screwed up and I broke up with Phil. Plus, all my billing with the insurance companies I work with got completely wiped out on my computer! It’s got to be Mercury in Retrograde.”

Ever since, Jan pays careful attention to it and marks her calendar. So do I.

We are getting closer to Mercury going Retrograde. Already, I am hearing a funny noise in my car today. And I wanted to lunge across the table and strangle one of the women in a meeting today. She kept interrupting me and talking as if she didn't understand a word I said! It's starting…

This year of 2009, Mercury in Retro starts January 11th and ends February 1st. Don’t say I didn’t tell you.

Halting HALT

Here it is. Christmas Eve and a whole day of Christmas looming on the horizon. Alone. Friends are out of town, no relationship going on right now, a family mostly dead or about to be, a brother-sister relationship that's delicate, a good friend who's hiding, a beloved cat that just died, what's left?

I've gotten better over the years dealing with being alone on major holidays. But every once in awhile, HALT bites me on holidays like Christmas. So what's HALT? It's what we recovered alcoholics call "Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired." It's what we are suppose to prevent ourselves from becoming in order to make sure we don't drink. I woke up today feeling two of these: Hungry and Lonely. I refuse to run: I have to deal with it.

Getting some sober human connection will take care of my Lonely part. So, I called my brother and my friend in hiding and suggested that we meet up tonight at our community Christmas Alkathon tonight - for the free buffet dinner and the annual Christmas Speakers AA meeting and Sobriety Countdown. (What's a countdown? It's a group countdown of who has the longest and the shortest period of sobriety. Sounds kind of corny and stupid but it's actually fun and sort of tribal.)

That will take care of the Lonely part of HALT. As for the Hungry part, I decided to have a turkey sandwich right now! (It is good: with garlic humus on it rather than mayo. Try it!)

...and so far, as of this hour, I am still sober - after eight years from my last drink. No plans to drink tonight. Merry Christmas and Winter Solstice to everyone!

Mysterious Numbers

This morning Carol called to tell me she woke up today hearing the following numbers in her head: 977922.

She asked me what they mean. I had no idea but copied them and began to reduce them down to a single number - 9, the number of endings of a cycle, a spiritual number, the number of being in service to others.

Half-joking, she asked me if she is going to die. I told her no - but did she recognize these numbers in any way? She didn't. They were not someone's birthday, or phone number, or the date of a significant event in her life, and they were not an address.

I googled these numbers and came up with a dozen possibilities, such as the number of a patent in the Canadian Patent Office, a flat up for rent in Italy, the listing of a mental health counselor job, and a mysterious list of something called GoldenEye agents. The world seemed to be offering a boatload of disconnected possibilities. How could we sort through it all and make sense of it?

The jury is out. Why did Carol hear these numbers?

There are mysterious repetitions of numbers all around. I am a numerology buff.

I will be watching and waiting to learn more.