The Furious Spinner

It's been raining for eons. An eternity. Some of the water pouring down the hills and cliffs has turned color. Clear water usually doesn't cause problems. Once it turns color, however, particularly soil-colored, trouble is brewing. It means the land is being eaten away by water and landslides are usually inevitable. We'll see.

Stephen King was recently given the Distinguished Contribution to American Letters Award at the National Book Awards. Some people have protested this award, saying, in essence, that King isn't a "real" writer. His acceptance speech was eloquent and moving. Had me crying through most of it.

You want to hear some good news? Here's the Top Ten Good News Stories of 2003 focused on the Muslim world.

Women in New York were handing out the morning-after pill, protesting the fact that women have to go to a doctor to get a prescription for these pills. (I feel the same way about my asthma medication. Why do I have to go see a doctor? I know what I need.) I resent the patronizing way the medical industry treats us, so brava, sisters. Brava!

George Lakoff has some interesting observations about the words "gay marriage." He reminds us that we can constantly "reframe" the discussion. If someone tells us they are against gay marriages, we can say, "I'm for equal rights for everyone. Period."

Here's a whole slew of articles about (mostly) alternative films. Mario and I have a tradition of watching the Oscars. Now we primarily do it because it is a tradition. Lately we've been inviting people over, so that we can make fun and jeer and cheer with a group. That's mildly entertaining. In the end we generally say, "Well, that's four hours of our lives we'll never get back." And this year they've changed the date. It's a month ahead of when it usually is. That's just messing with the laws of the universe.

This year we've seen some good movies, although I'm not sure I'll be able to remember any of them. I really liked Seabiscuit. Yes, it's Hollywood hokum. I don't care. I enjoy seeing losers win. Gives me hope. We also enjoyed Lost in Translation. Some of the party scenes ran a bit long, I thought, but other than that, I liked it.

Shattered Glass was the true life story of a reporter for the New Republic who made stories up. The actor who played Glass did an amazing job. It was very well done, very gripping, but it could have been a TV movie. Lately I find there are movies I'm glad I saw at the theater, and others I wished I'd seen at home. I'm not sure what the difference is: perhaps special effects. Perhaps it's the bigness of it. I don't like going out to the movies like I did when I was younger. I don't like crowds. I don't like the noise or those awful violent previews. What can I say?

We enjoyed The Station Agent, too, but could have just as easily enjoyed it at home. A man, who happens to be a dwarf, inherits an old train station. He becomes (reluctantly) friends with a man and woman in the small town where the station is, and the movie is about their relationships.

Stone Reader was fascinating. Mark Moskowitz decides to track down the author of the novel Stones of Summer, Dow Mossman. Stone Reader is his documentary about this process. We learn a great deal about the books he reads—very macho list; I don't think he knows women write, too. He keeps asking the question, "What happened to the author?" He doesn't seem to understand that writers have to eat, they have to make a living, and what most often happens to writers who disappear is they had to quit writing and get a job. Which is essentially what happened to Dow Mossman.

We've seen a gizillion movies at home. We don't remember most of them. They go right out of our brains. I saw The Hours in 2003, but I can't remember if it was in the theater or at home. In any case, I thought it was amazing. The other film Streep did last year, about the orchid hunter, was horrible. Yuck. I've blocked out the title.

OK. It's the crack of dawn. I'm going to try and sleep again. Have a great day. May you Walk in Beauty...and stay dry!


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