There is something nice about not having internet connection for several days. One goes old school and watches movies on DVDs. I have given away and tossed dozens in the past weeks but I hold on to a few classics. Just watched "L.A. Confidential" again and was reminded that it is up there with the Ten Best Movies to Take to a Desert Island. (If said island had a DVD player, of course.) What a great movie! So intricate, such clear and different characters and what a detailed plot. It's been several years since I have watched it and there were a few things that I don't think I caught on the first three viewings. I forgot that the dead corrupt cop, Leland "Buzz" Meeks was the sort-of boyfriend of the dead girl Lefferts who was killed at the Night Owl Shooting. And I had forgotten about the attempted takeover of the Mickey Cohen crime ring by Pierce Patchett and Dudley Smith and the heroin they were trying to distribute. If you have never seen this film, find it and watch it. If you have seen it, watch it again, I can assure you it holds up well. I can loan it to you on DVD, it's not streaming on Netflix. Maybe on Amazon. But it is so, so good.
Books: I have read and liked almost all of Dave Eggers work. "Zeitoun" was one of my favorite books a few years ago, a true story of a Syrian resident of New Orleans, a man who has been there for years, has a business, has a wife and kids. When Hurricane Katrina hits, Zeitoun goes out in his small boat to rescue people and pets, he saves lives, he sees the incredible damage done to his city. And then, because of Homeland Security and the reign of terror against anyone not white, he is arrested and sent to prison for no reason other than his ethnicity. Read it. It's scary and moving and true.
But that's not what I have just finished. "Heroes of the Frontier" by Eggers is a work of fiction. A woman named Josie flees her insensitive and dense husband in Ohio, takes her two kids and flies to Alaska. Her plan is vague, her heart is muddied with anger and confusion, she rents a sputtering old VW bus and tries to navigate the state. Josie is rebuffed by wildfires, by kind but odd strangers, by her own uncertainty. It's a great tale, a great adventure, even if at times you want to slap her in the face.
But Eggers, his prose just puts you in the characters' minds and he doesn't let you give up on them: She wanted no more of the useless drama of life. If theatrics were necessary, fine. If a human were ascending a mountain, and on that ascent there were storms and avalanches and bolts of lightning from angry skies, then she could accept drama, participate in drama. But suburban drama was so tiresome, so absurd on its face, that she could no longer be around anyone who thought it real or worthwhile." Come on, who has not thought that, especially if you ever lived in that white suburban death drama kind of neighborhood scenario.
I really liked this book. It would not be too far from the truth to say I REALLY liked this book. Josie is lost and found and a trooper and a loser and a Mom and a child and everything between all those boundaries. SO ARE WE ALL. You do not need to have been a parent to understand the feeling of failure (and possibly success) at caretaking another person. I would just say find this and read it. It won't rock your world but it will make you think twice about your own rocking of that world.
Me and Cooper, on the couch, watch TV in the main room, not hiding in the TV room, eating what I want for dinner and making a mess in the kitchen and cleaning it WHEN I WANT TO CLEAN IT UP, leaving the mail scattered around the house, not putting all the groceries away. Drinking whiskey or wine without having to hide it. Bottom line, it is really nice to be on my own. YAY.
thanks for following along.
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