Sunday Sundries, 181

1. AOTW; At the Solon Cinema last night Joyce and I saw Red Sparrow, and right in front of us--a young couple with two very young children (6? 7? 8?). They sat through through some of the grimness, the violence, the nudity, the crude language (we were getting very concerned about people we didn't even know). Finally, Jiminy Cricket returned to the parents' minds (he'd been off getting popcorn?), and they took their children away. Whew!

2. I finished one book this week, the most recent story collection by Joyce Carol Oates, Beautiful Days (2018). And there are some very impressive pieces here, stories in which she (once again) shows her uncanny ability to inhabit the minds of a wide assortment of characters--male, female, young, old, sane, otherwise. Don't make her no nevermind.

And, as usual, there are some striking sentences:

• "Love is what can't be helped ..." (31).
• "For the weakness of the man is the strength of the woman" (51).
• "The man was her lover, but not her friend" (71).
• "... the actual world is blinding to him" (85).
• "She has forgotten what it is she has forgotten" (270).

And on and on.

The stories range is style and technique, too--some are "traditional"; others push the boundaries of the genre; some border on sci-fi; some are thrillers; some are intensely psychological.

Such an enormously gifted writer is Oates--stories, essays, novels, plays, poems. It isn't fair!

3. We saw two films this week ...

     - The first was Julius Caesar, a live recording of the Bard's play performed on January 20, 2017, before a live audience at the Bridge Theatre in London (not far from Tower Bridge). The production was stunning and imaginative. Done in contemporary dress (and with pistols rather than knives), the play involved audience members standing around the platform (they became the crowds for ... well, for the crowd scenes). The show opened with a rock group doing three or four numbers (getting the audience pumped!), and then--surprise!--they blended into the cast and played characters.

Antony doing the "Friends, Romans, countrymen" speech

I really enjoyed Brutus, played by Ben Whishaw (who has played Q in recent Bond films)--a stunning talent. Articulate and intelligent (you can't be otherwise if you want to be a good Shakespearean actor). You could understand what he said even when you didn't know all the words. The others were also strong--and the cast was ... liberated. Women in men's parts, a mingle of races and ethnicities.

Loved it. (Can you tell?)

One sad moment: We were in one of the large theaters at the Cinemark in Cuyahoga Falls--and there was only a single showing. Joyce and I were there ... and only one other patron. Three people. (It is returning to some sites on April 25; check it out.)

     - Last night (Saturday) we drove to Solon to see Red Sparrow, a film we wanted to see because a friend (Chris Cozens) was involved in delivering the music for the film (we caught his name in the final credits ... well, Joyce did: I was staring right at it and missed it!).

It was actually better than I thought it would be. The plot fooled me a few times--and I love being fooled at the movies! (Or in a book or ...) As I suggested above (in the AOTW description), it was a bit ... raw in parts (use all the definitions of raw you know)--but clever, well acted, some striking cinematography here and there. I didn't feel too much worse about myself as I left--though I hadn't taken an 8-year-old along with me, either! (Link to film trailer.)

On IMDB, Chris is identified as working with the "Auricle Control Systems," which their website says is "the most highly honored software application in the history of scoring for motion pictures and television." Proud to know him.

4. We finished this season's final episode of Doc Martin and are suffering withdrawal and stream-grief (I just made that term up).

5. We also streamed (Netflix)--and enjoyed--the new Ricky Gervais stand-up. (Link to trailer.)

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

     - from wordsmith.org

stridulant  (STRIJ-uh-luhnt)

adjective: Shrill; making a harsh grating sound.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin stridere (to make a harsh sound). Earliest documented use: 1843.

USAGE: “They’re ugly, come and see just how ugly they are, she repeats several times, her voice stridulant and too loud.”

Claudio Magris; Microcosms; Harvill; 2000.