A movie a day . . .

is just as good as an apple, yes? Though the apples I ate the other day, ones that Siue had picked quite a while ago and were just quietly sitting in the fridge, were simply incredible. Now I'm all inspired to go out to the apple trees around here and get some more. Perhaps for my Dad's famous Louisville, KY apple pie? I've never actually made it, and that surely is a rite of passage in my family. Like I'm getting older or something.

Anyway folks, I'm feeling "under the weather" as they say. Drinking tea, trying to relax, thinking positive thoughts, and as we realized last night, going out to see two movies in a row! Now THERE's the old Michelle!

It's gotten a little rainier lately, and Sunday was one of those days, rainy but not too much. That kind of weather just says "MOVIE" to me.

(playing around while waiting for the bus)

And while I'm not big into "Hollywood" movies, one of my new favorite theatres here is the Hollywood, down in the Hollywood District, of course.


We saw The Beauty Academy of Kabul and I'll be surprised if you saw it too since it has had pretty shallow distribution (from what I've read). It's about American and British beauticians going to Kabul in 2003 to teach women about makeup and hair. They opened up a shop called Beauty Without Borders (!) It had some ridiculously uncomfortable moments. Like when this woman from Indiana was berating the women for not wearing makeup, and then one woman pointed out how their husbands won't allow them to, and then she conceded "oh, well that's different." The movie was much better when it focused on the Afghani-American women who were returning to Kabul for the first time in twenty years; these women felt like they were returning to help their sisters in Afghanistan, and I found it much easier to understand their perspectives and reasons for being there. I kept feeling like the other American and British women were trying to impose/enforce a more Western (they kept referring to it as "normal") perception of modern women on their students. I did enjoy the watching of it and found it entertaining in parts, and you might too, though I hesitate to recommend it.

[But oh, the popcorn was particularly good! (I felt terrible though cause I went to my friend, you guessed it -- Sara's house!) to eat afterwards and I didn't have as strong an appetite as I normally would. She made the yummiest twice baked potatoes. And "cheese"cake!]

I hope to go back to that theater this weekend to the Portland International Short Short Film Festival, called Piss Fest. Yup! Hopefully I'll be feeling well by then.

Monday was the Portland opening of my most-anticipated movie of the year. 49UP! I was so excited, I wore my new dress!

(picked up at Frock for $3 while Michelle was visiting. I did really well that week, even finding great stuff at the curb! We should have taken a picture with my jacket off so you could see the cool sleeves!)

49 Up is part of the UP series of films started in the 60's with Michael Apted (though he wasn't the director then). Read more about the UP series here. It was great, as I knew it would be, to catch up with all of them and see what they've been up to. I first heard about the UP series about 7 years ago, when 42 Up came out, but I didn't get to see them all in order until they recently came out on DVD. Rent them if you have any interest in longitudinal studies (though its more entertainment than sociological experiment) or any curiosity regarding how someone's childhood affects who they become as adults. Now at the brink of 50, they really had a lot to say about how far they've come AND how participating in this program has affected them.

NYers, I read it's still playing at the IFC.

It hit me today how much I miss knitting! I have been knitting off and on, but never working on one project for very long. And I haven't completed a project in a very long time. There's a part of my brain that does not want to get invested in a very long project, but a sock, a hat, a scarf, a headband, those are the projects I am craving right now.

Some reasons/theories why I've been knitting less.
a) a HUGE portion of my knitting was done on the subway. Now I ride the bus and look out the window.

b) as you know, I had a large network (some might say a web! plus Jenn, Stacey, etc.) of knitterly friends in NY and that was always inspiring. I need to see more knitters and knitting other than at Wednesday knit night.

c) I used to knit while I watched tv, and I haven't been watching tv since I moved here (the only time it's on is when Aaron is checking up on baseball, and the rest of the time my member's only jacket is covering it up!)

d) I did a lot of my knitting when I wasn't supposed to be (faculty meetings, conferences, etc.) and now I don't have that. Though I hope to!

e) I still haven't figured out my "knitting spot" in my new house yet.

And when I told Aaron about this, he said: "Maybe we should watch a movie later and you'll knit." Perfect. We haven't watched a movie at home since we got here, and we used to do that all the time! I'll let you know what movie we choose and what project I work on...

So hopefully, movie+knitting+herbal tea+miso soup+regular blogging will equal regained health and energy for me. I'll keep you posted . . . I'm on a roll!