accidental feminist

henry and june = clap if you believe in movies! February 26, 2007

Every so often a movie comes along that one can watch and be simultaneously in awe of the deliberateness of the film making itself, and moved by the realness of it. This was such a movie. No, seriously, I’m not being ironic. The cinematography deserved the Oscar for which it was nominated, the dialogue was artful and just stylized enough to match the heightened passions of the characters. Some highlights:
* A young Uma Thurman as a woman who whores herself for her husband’s art, hoping to be repaid by becoming the exalted Sonia to his Raskolnikov; but Henry Miller is no Dostoevsky.
* The most interesting treatment of explicit sex I’ve ever seen in a movie. It’s as if it declares: “There is sex in this movie because there is sex in the world. And not all of it is pretty. If you find it ugly or upsetting, stop looking”. Much in the same way the Henry Miller would not apologize for the sex found in his books.
* All the sensibilities and charm of a French film, but without the subtitles.

Highly recommended.

dina-nary, part ii February 22, 2007

sometimes: in the near and general future, i.e. “Can we get ice cream sometimes?” or “Can we take the El sometimes?”

“D” is for… February 21, 2007

Many of you have already heard the story about how, despite my acceptance of the relative truth of the “softball lesbian” stereotype, I was naive enough to think that, at a Division III school like the University of Chicago, the percentage of same-sex loving girls on the team woulf be severely reduced, due to the relative skill of the players, most likely corresponding to a lower level of “lesbian-inducing” hormones than found in Division I players. And how, in the course of my first and only season on the team, there were two internal hook-ups (one between an assistant coach and a player, and one between the sorority girl catcher and the centerfielder). That’s, like, 25%!

As was explained to me this morning when I recounted this story to friends: “Yeah, you thought the ‘D’ stood for ‘Division’!”

dina-nary February 16, 2007

wind (pronounced like the noun) away: v. to be blown out of one’s hand or off one’s person, usually by way of a blustery wind. e.g. “I have to hold onto my picture tight or it will wind away.” “My hat is winding away.”

V-Day vs. D-Day February 14, 2007

V-Day: Lots of chocolate.
D-Day: Lots of blood.

V-Day: Valentines left on my desk from “secret admirers” (i.e. students wanting extra credit).
D-Day: Secret and deadly attack on the western front.

V-Day: Thousands of high school kids roaming the halls, jacked up on hormones and refined sugar.
D-Day: Thousands of soldiers storming Normandy Beach, jacked up on hormones and the smell of death.

And the winner? V-Day! At least I don’t think about Tom Hank’s unimaginative and uninspired performance in “Saving Private Ryan” on Valentine’s Day. Oh, well, now I did. Damn. Whatever happened to “Night Shift-Tom Hanks”? You were so cute then, Tom…

who’s the best mommy, girls? February 8, 2007

That would be me, who for the entire ride to school this morning put on an improvised episode of “Calliou”, complete with voices (I’m a dead ringer for Calliou; I do a passable dad, and all the puppets; my “kind old lady” narrator needs work, and I have no sense for the mom). Every two minutes I would start to hum the theme song, indicating that the show was over. Then I’d look back at the girls who would smile a wry, wiley smile and say “It’s not over, yet…back to the backyard…back to Calliou…now the kids sing a song…”

dance, monkey, dance…

the nerd gene February 6, 2007

Bassie came home yesterday with a sheet of paper with three giant, handwritten division problems on it. I asked if she was doing division in class. “No,” she said. “I was just pretending I was in first grade and I had homework.”

Little does she know that her mommy also used to make “fake” homework for herself after she was finished with all of her “real” class work. I would also dig worksheets out of the scrap paper pile and actually complete them, rather than drawing on the blank side.

Nature or nurture? You be the judge…

super bowl shovel February 4, 2007

someone get me one to bury rex grossman with…as I write this, the super bowl is nearing its conclusion, and I will say now:
** Payton Manning deserves this game.
** Not usually an professional sports officionado, and only a recent football convert (now that we have HDTV and I can actually follow the plays) I have an irrational desire to see the Bears reenact the super bowl win of my youth; i have come to believe that, if they could win, I might be transported back to a simpler time, when I wrote in a pastel diary with little angels all over it, and I had a transparent neon phone in my room.

yellow flag at two minutes. this game is over…