Sunday Sundries, 158

1. AOTW: Okay, this happened to me twice on Saturday (two different times, two differrent drivers, who, this week, will share the honors). I was sitting in the middle of an intersection, waiting to turn left. The light went to amber, started moving toward red, and the oncoming car (two different times!) gunned it through the intersection as the light turned red--even though I was right there, obviously turning--and forced me to decide: "Do I turn? Or sit here in the middle of the intersection?" Duh. I turned. Got some honks as my reward.

2. Friday night we went over to Kent and saw The Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the sequel to a film which I really enjoyed--The Kingsman; The Secret Service (2014), which had one of the most surprising, grimmest, and funniest head-popping conclusions I've ever seen. This one was not as much fun--but was still a popcorn-munching pleasure for both of us. Some surprise appearances (Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, and Julianne Moore, who played the genial though savage mega-villain). She has two vicious robo-dogs named Benny and Jet, so you know that Elton John is going to be involved (he was). Enjoyed Colin Firth and Taron Egerton (Eggsy) a lot, too.

Basic plot? Moore now controls all illegal drugs in the world. She's infected them all--wants drugs to be legalized or she will let everyone die. And the U. S. President (Bruce Greenwood)? Go see it!

Link to trailer for the film.


3. I finished just one book this week--the new one by Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing,  which just earned a nomination for a National Book Award (which she won in 2011 for Salvage the Bones).

This novel has a most fitting title, for the "unburied" (ghosts) are prominent in this one--are very real to some of the characters. There are some similarities to Faulkner's As I Lay Dying: the narrators shift with the chapters, the grandmother is dying in the other room. And there's more about this rural black family.

Parchman State Penitentiary in Mississippi is a crucial setting--actually and in the psyches of the characters. They are taking a trip (also like As I Lay Dying) to the prison; a relative is being released. And so we flash back and forth in time--hear different sides and portions of the same story--listen in on conversations with ghosts--gradually learn some secrets. There's an interracial couple (black, white) involved, and so we get some penetrating harshness and cruelty here and there that remind us that, as a species, we have a long way to go.

I liked the novel a lot--admired Ward's handling of dialogue, of the psychological interiors of these rural folks, of the immense power of the past to accompany us--to haunt us.

But my favorite book this year (one of m all-time favorites, actually), Paul Auster's 4 3 2 1, was not nominated for the NBA.


4. We continue to enjoy streaming (Netflix) the episodes of Shetland--and we continue to use the subtitle feature!


5. We've also been streaming (Netflix) the new stand-up set by Jerry Seinfeld. He's very funny--but in this performance seems to me a bit over-rehearsed. A bit slick. It lacks some spontaneity--and he keeps things on the surface pretty much too. Not a lot (so far) from the heart. Maybe it's just me.


6. Final word--a word I liked this week from one of my online word-of-the-day providers:

     - otic (O-tik, OT-ik)

adjective: Relating to the ear.

ETYMOLOGY: From Greek ous (ear). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ous- (ear), which also gave us ear, aural, auscultation, scout, and otorhinolaryngology. Earliest documented use: 1657.

USAGE:

“Looks like it might be suffering from ear mites as well. Nothing that a bit of otic medication won’t cure.”

H.Y. Hanna; Summer Beach Vets (Book 3); Wisheart Press; 2014.