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Dec. 24th, 2023 09:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Decided not to brave the wilds to go to church for their five o'clock mass. It's a gloomy, drab day. And walking out in it felt like walking through soiled socks. Just depressing. No sun. No snow. Just kind of a mud colored gray, with everything looking drab and dead. Leaves that hadn't quite fallen from the trees, drooping from them, half dead, a mottled yellow.
I hate this time of year in the City - it's depressing. When and if I retire - I'm going somewhere else. That's why everything is lit up. Super's went nuts with my apartment complex.
Did watch the five o'clock candle-lit service on FB. (It was better in previous years). This year they went on and on about Maryam - or Mirrium, who gave birth to Mohammad, the Islamic version of Jesus, who was a "messenger" of God or a prophet. Basically it is the same story, only difference is that Qu'ran sees Jesus as a "Messenger" or "Prophet" of Allah (God) while Christians see Jesus as the Son of God. [I think the Jews fall more within the Islamic version which is the prophet interpretation. Basically, God gave everyone the version they could deal with - because people think differently. That's my take on all of this - no one else's.]
Anyhow, I dozed off during it. It was an hour and a half - and I got bored listening to the trials and tribulations of ancient pregnant women, with immaculate births. Both had to do with the townspeople not taking their sudden pregnancies well. Apparently Mirrium took a vow of silence and just pointed at her child, who spoke for her?
Religious mythology is kind of interesting - it gets very obsessed with "Mother's" and "Son's" and childbirth being somehow done without sex. Why I don't know. Apparently getting impregnated by a man isn't holy? And why the sons always have to be tragically and somewhat violently killed in these stories, I don't know. Also, why everyone simulataneously worships and ostracizes this kid and his mother is beyond me - it's in all the stories as well.
I don't know how much I believe in them, but considering they are in almost all the religious mythos, including the ancient greek, and celtic pagan myths, makes me wonder if it didn't happen at some point and everyone just created their own version of it and timeline?
I shouldn't have been bored by the story - but they did a lousy job of telling it. And the songs weren't my fav's. I don't really like Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Thee Faithful, We Three Kings of Orient Are (which may explain where orient and oriental came from? Or not?), or This Child is Born, or Gloria Exus Dieo. My favs are Upon a Midnight Clear, What Child is This, and The First Noel, none of which they sang. They have sung them in previous years with a harp, there was no harp this year.
Anyhow, it was okay. I'm glad I didn't go. The church was packed, and I'd not have gotten back until almost 8:30.
2. Saw two films today...
A Star is Born with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson - which I kept going to sleep during. This is not a good movie. Wales has horrid taste in films. I'm sorry, she does. Shhh...don't tell her.
Kris Kristofferson was miscast. He's playing a hard rocker, the man is a country western singer. And best when he's just sitting and doing acoustic guitar. He has a quiet voice, with a tiny range - and is more know for his song-writing abilities than his voice. Honestly, people do better covers of his songs than he does. (Example? Janis Joplin's cover of Me and Bobby MeGee, and Johnny Cash's rendition of Hurt.)
So too is Streisand. She is not a hard rocker either.
This is done in 1976, and honestly? It would have worked better with Elvis and possibly Stevie Nicks or Cher.
I can see why Peters wanted Elvis - it basically is about Elvis. I can also see why Elvis turned them down - it hit a wee bit too close to home.
I think if Striesand should have done it with a crooner - someone like Frank Sinatra, or Dean Martin. Someone who is more of a singer.
Anyhow, the only memorable and good song in it is Evergreen. The rest of the songs are truly horrible. It didn't work for me at all. I now know why I've never made it through it - only did today because I spent $2.95 on it, and was curious about it.
Streisand is talking about it now in her memoir. Apparently, she made the set designers and crew paint the pink tiles in the bathroom black, because they provided the wrong color scheme for the shot. She was pleased they fixed it. I thought - Barbra, hon, no one would have noticed or cared. Nor was that scene of the two people making love in the tub necessary.
Apparently Kristofferson wanted to do the love and bathtub scene fully naked. But Peters nixed it and made him wear trunks. Streisand was wearing a body-colored slip.
I think it was poorly directed, written, and produced - and from Streisand states about it, I think she would agree with me. There's a lot of scenes that she states should have been reshot or done differently. And the film was deeply flawed as a result.
I don't understand Wales' taste. She loves this piece of crap, but can't stand the Wizard of Oz or Meet Me in St. Louis. She also loves Gone with the Wind. But not, Lawrence of Arabia.
And she refused to see Oppenheimer.
3. Nyad - starring Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, and Rhys Ifans. The cast is excellent. I saw it for the cast. Those three - I'd watch read the phone book together.
I honestly think the movie works because of the cast. It's about Diana Nyad who is the open water swimmer that is the first woman to swim the English Channel, around Manhattan, from the Bahammas to Florida. And when she was in her 60s, swam the 110 miles from Cuba to Key West (which was a controversial swim, since she claimed she was unassisted initially - and in truth she had a team of forty people around her, and was assisted throughout.) That swim is impossible otherwise. And the film does a very good job of laying out the reasons why. You cannot do it unassisted. The problem is the sea creatures - it contains about a million different species of sharks, and jelly fish. She managed to avoid the sharks without too much difficulty, but not so much the box jelly fish.
They had to put her into a wet suit and wet suit mask to avoid the jelly fish. One her second try she gets stung by a jelly fish and has to stop, on the third, she gets stung by one and has to stop, on the fourth, it's a storm, finally on the fifth they figure it out and coordinate it.
She tried it once before at 28 and failed. So she made it on her fifth try at the rip old age of 63 or 64.
At the very center of the story - is the deep and abiding friendship between Nyad and Bonnie Stroll, who finally agrees to be her coach and handler. If it weren't for Bonnie - Diana wouldn't have made it. And Foster is fantastic as Bonnie.
Overall worth watching for the cast. Nyad is insane. Just because we can do something - doesn't necessarily mean we should do it. I wish people would think less about the can and more about the should.
***
4.Took a brief walk to The Lofty Pigeons Book Store - to see the party, it was low-key, alcohol served, along with cookies and water. I partook of the water. Didn't buy anything. Did that previously. And stopped off at the liquor store to get brandy for my eggnog.
It's very depressing outside.
Came home. Turned on the Christmas Lights. Called mother. She's doing fine.
Keeping herself busy, and doesn't appear to be missing me too much.
Oh, and niece states that it is snowing where she is - in Oregon. Which is good, because that means she may be able to finally work as a ski-lift operator, and make some money. I wanted a white Christmas too - but alas, I have a drab one, with rain expected next week. It is a wet year, but alas, also a warm one.
I hate this time of year in the City - it's depressing. When and if I retire - I'm going somewhere else. That's why everything is lit up. Super's went nuts with my apartment complex.
Did watch the five o'clock candle-lit service on FB. (It was better in previous years). This year they went on and on about Maryam - or Mirrium, who gave birth to Mohammad, the Islamic version of Jesus, who was a "messenger" of God or a prophet. Basically it is the same story, only difference is that Qu'ran sees Jesus as a "Messenger" or "Prophet" of Allah (God) while Christians see Jesus as the Son of God. [I think the Jews fall more within the Islamic version which is the prophet interpretation. Basically, God gave everyone the version they could deal with - because people think differently. That's my take on all of this - no one else's.]
Anyhow, I dozed off during it. It was an hour and a half - and I got bored listening to the trials and tribulations of ancient pregnant women, with immaculate births. Both had to do with the townspeople not taking their sudden pregnancies well. Apparently Mirrium took a vow of silence and just pointed at her child, who spoke for her?
Religious mythology is kind of interesting - it gets very obsessed with "Mother's" and "Son's" and childbirth being somehow done without sex. Why I don't know. Apparently getting impregnated by a man isn't holy? And why the sons always have to be tragically and somewhat violently killed in these stories, I don't know. Also, why everyone simulataneously worships and ostracizes this kid and his mother is beyond me - it's in all the stories as well.
I don't know how much I believe in them, but considering they are in almost all the religious mythos, including the ancient greek, and celtic pagan myths, makes me wonder if it didn't happen at some point and everyone just created their own version of it and timeline?
I shouldn't have been bored by the story - but they did a lousy job of telling it. And the songs weren't my fav's. I don't really like Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Come All Thee Faithful, We Three Kings of Orient Are (which may explain where orient and oriental came from? Or not?), or This Child is Born, or Gloria Exus Dieo. My favs are Upon a Midnight Clear, What Child is This, and The First Noel, none of which they sang. They have sung them in previous years with a harp, there was no harp this year.
Anyhow, it was okay. I'm glad I didn't go. The church was packed, and I'd not have gotten back until almost 8:30.
2. Saw two films today...
A Star is Born with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson - which I kept going to sleep during. This is not a good movie. Wales has horrid taste in films. I'm sorry, she does. Shhh...don't tell her.
Kris Kristofferson was miscast. He's playing a hard rocker, the man is a country western singer. And best when he's just sitting and doing acoustic guitar. He has a quiet voice, with a tiny range - and is more know for his song-writing abilities than his voice. Honestly, people do better covers of his songs than he does. (Example? Janis Joplin's cover of Me and Bobby MeGee, and Johnny Cash's rendition of Hurt.)
So too is Streisand. She is not a hard rocker either.
This is done in 1976, and honestly? It would have worked better with Elvis and possibly Stevie Nicks or Cher.
I can see why Peters wanted Elvis - it basically is about Elvis. I can also see why Elvis turned them down - it hit a wee bit too close to home.
I think if Striesand should have done it with a crooner - someone like Frank Sinatra, or Dean Martin. Someone who is more of a singer.
Anyhow, the only memorable and good song in it is Evergreen. The rest of the songs are truly horrible. It didn't work for me at all. I now know why I've never made it through it - only did today because I spent $2.95 on it, and was curious about it.
Streisand is talking about it now in her memoir. Apparently, she made the set designers and crew paint the pink tiles in the bathroom black, because they provided the wrong color scheme for the shot. She was pleased they fixed it. I thought - Barbra, hon, no one would have noticed or cared. Nor was that scene of the two people making love in the tub necessary.
Apparently Kristofferson wanted to do the love and bathtub scene fully naked. But Peters nixed it and made him wear trunks. Streisand was wearing a body-colored slip.
I think it was poorly directed, written, and produced - and from Streisand states about it, I think she would agree with me. There's a lot of scenes that she states should have been reshot or done differently. And the film was deeply flawed as a result.
I don't understand Wales' taste. She loves this piece of crap, but can't stand the Wizard of Oz or Meet Me in St. Louis. She also loves Gone with the Wind. But not, Lawrence of Arabia.
And she refused to see Oppenheimer.
3. Nyad - starring Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, and Rhys Ifans. The cast is excellent. I saw it for the cast. Those three - I'd watch read the phone book together.
I honestly think the movie works because of the cast. It's about Diana Nyad who is the open water swimmer that is the first woman to swim the English Channel, around Manhattan, from the Bahammas to Florida. And when she was in her 60s, swam the 110 miles from Cuba to Key West (which was a controversial swim, since she claimed she was unassisted initially - and in truth she had a team of forty people around her, and was assisted throughout.) That swim is impossible otherwise. And the film does a very good job of laying out the reasons why. You cannot do it unassisted. The problem is the sea creatures - it contains about a million different species of sharks, and jelly fish. She managed to avoid the sharks without too much difficulty, but not so much the box jelly fish.
They had to put her into a wet suit and wet suit mask to avoid the jelly fish. One her second try she gets stung by a jelly fish and has to stop, on the third, she gets stung by one and has to stop, on the fourth, it's a storm, finally on the fifth they figure it out and coordinate it.
She tried it once before at 28 and failed. So she made it on her fifth try at the rip old age of 63 or 64.
At the very center of the story - is the deep and abiding friendship between Nyad and Bonnie Stroll, who finally agrees to be her coach and handler. If it weren't for Bonnie - Diana wouldn't have made it. And Foster is fantastic as Bonnie.
Overall worth watching for the cast. Nyad is insane. Just because we can do something - doesn't necessarily mean we should do it. I wish people would think less about the can and more about the should.
***
4.Took a brief walk to The Lofty Pigeons Book Store - to see the party, it was low-key, alcohol served, along with cookies and water. I partook of the water. Didn't buy anything. Did that previously. And stopped off at the liquor store to get brandy for my eggnog.
It's very depressing outside.
Came home. Turned on the Christmas Lights. Called mother. She's doing fine.
Keeping herself busy, and doesn't appear to be missing me too much.
Oh, and niece states that it is snowing where she is - in Oregon. Which is good, because that means she may be able to finally work as a ski-lift operator, and make some money. I wanted a white Christmas too - but alas, I have a drab one, with rain expected next week. It is a wet year, but alas, also a warm one.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-25 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-25 02:27 pm (UTC)Agree also on Kristofferson - he's not an actor. I don't know why he gets cast in anything. I think Streisand liked working with him, and he's been kind to her, so refused to say anything negative about him. (But she doesn't quite rave about him either.) Elvis was a better actor - which I guess says something?
The last version was with Bradley Cooper (in the Norman Maine role) and Lady Gaga in the Esther role. I have to say in some respects its better than the other two - or it works better. Cooper is the most appealing of the Maine's, and the best actor of the one's I've seen. He also works as a fading Country star. Gaga gets the rock star persona - and plays it well. But much like the Striesand version, the songs are forgettable as is the story. It is the most watchable of the three.
Why they insist on remaking it - I don't know. It may be because they identify with it or find it relatable?
no subject
Date: 2023-12-26 02:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-12-27 02:51 pm (UTC)Perversely, this discussion is making me want to watch all four. LOL.
no subject
Date: 2023-12-27 06:15 pm (UTC)Kind of a commentary on the gender imbalance and politics in Hollywood - which may be part of the appeal? I know it's why Streisand made it.
If I were to rewatch any of them? I'd watch the Garland and Gaga versions. But that's just me?
no subject
Date: 2023-12-28 11:05 am (UTC)The 1976 A Star is Born is the only version of that story I like, and I love Kris Kristofferson in it. There have been a few that follow the same theme, and Elvis did one in Jailhouse Rock that is in my top three of his movies.
Ah well. :-)
I love Judy Garland, but I haven't seen a movie of hers yet that I've liked.
Never seen Gone with the Wind, and really didn't enjoy Lawrence of Arabia; never seen a version of a Wizard of Oz that I've liked either.
A definite case of the IDIC's I'd say.
We're supposed to be in the middle of winter here in Scotland but, here at least in Perthshire it still feels more like a very wet Autumn, than Winter.
I don't celebrate xmas but, even though I watched all but a couple of my 'xmas eps' & 'xmas movies' it just didn't feel like Christmas at all here.
Hope you're holidays were peaceful, and your 2024 is as uneventful as you could hope for.
May the Goddess watch over you and all you love,
kerk
no subject
Date: 2023-12-29 02:47 am (UTC)For the most part, yes, they were. And the weather is the same here as it is in Scotland. Very wet Autumn. Drab. Grey. Wet. And mild. It was in the forties and fifties most of the week.
I'd like snow. But alas, no. Niece is returning home to NY for a week - because there's not enough snow where she is for her to work as a ski-lift operator.
Wishing the best to you and yours as well.