Unpresidented

Unsurprisingly and in a show of solidarity, Autocorrect is unhappy with the title of this blog.

In an unprecedented move (to un-president the current one), I became an activist - I attended the SF Women's March. I have been so inspired reading about all my family and friends who have attended the event in DC and in their own cities around the world. I'm really glad I did this. Not only did I feel part of a very important movement but it made me think on why I was marching.

I'm not happy with the state of our government right now and I continue to get more agitated and scared as each page on the white house website gets deleted and each time we are presented with our new, bizarre-o gas-lighting reality (alternate facts, anyone?). So that's one reason I marched.

I also marched for all the wonderful women in my life. From my littlest grand-niece (and the two on the way!!) to my mother's sister, I march for and with them. I couldn't help but think about my aunt, who I have written about before. She never married; she worked in a man's world. She didn't let any bullshit stop her, even though the bullshit was strong in her time. She had great jobs, lived in Greece for many years and lived her life on her own terms. I chatted with her the Sunday after the march and, interestingly, she doesn't really see herself as any kind of pioneer. She just thinks she lived her life the way she wanted. I understand that she made her way within the confines of her era and I love her spirit; I always strive to emulate it.

So I walked. Thankfully, it was truly a peaceful demonstration. I was worried about this. Not about the marchers, mind you, but about anyone who might not agree with why we were marching. When I was in college, my dormitory got teargassed (it was a prank) and honestly, I think I have a little teargas PTSD. It was a horrible experience; one I would never want to live through again. So I thought about exit strategies and my group all kept eyes on each other the whole time. We were a good team.

Even though the bullshit continues, I was honored to march in the pouring rain with so many likeminded people. And, sure the rain was cold and uncomfortable, but being an activist shouldn't be comfortable, should it?

All the President's Men - released in 1976

This movie has been rattling around in my brain from the moment the Cheeto started braying about "fake news" and keeping certain news agencies out of press conferences, etc.

I was probably 11 or 12 years old when I read this book. I remember the Watergate scandal

occurred when I was about 9 and I was (oddly for me, honestly) fascinated by it. I probably just thought of it as a weird conspiracy, but having a president resign because he was a minute away from being impeached was a big deal even for a non-political kid. And considering it was barely a decade after Kennedy was assassinated, I can't even imagine how uneasy the political climate must have been. 

Woodward and Bernstein were like heroes to me. The movie came out when I was about 13 and that year my friend Sharon and I dressed as the reporters for Halloween (she is blonde so she got to be Woodward, I was Bernstein). We just wore jeans and maybe button down shirts and carried notepads and pencils around with us. We also made press badges out of our junior high school ID cards. I wish I had some photos of those costumes. We were clearly a little obsessed.

The film is directed by Alan J Pakula (Sophie's Choice) and the screenplay is written by the amazing William Goldman (who wrote the actual Princess Bride book!). It's SO 70s in it's style but a few things stood out to me. One of the first things we see in the film are full screen letters being typed onto a page (the date, June 1, 1972) and the sound of the typewriter is extremely loud. Definitely setting the expectation of what is important to this story. The film ends with the television showing Nixon being sworn in for his second term in office and Woodward and Bernstein in the background typing the story that will bring him down. It's beautifully filmed. 

The premise of the book and this film - that the press, at risk of their own safety, will do whatever it takes to ferret out a story like this amidst everyone from the top down trying to stop them - is as timely as it is riveting. There is an amazing line delivered by Jason Robards playing Washington Post executive editor, Ben Bradlee. The boys are just about to go to press with the nail in Halderman's coffin (which is the start of the house of cards crumbling - and yes, that will be my last metaphor for this sentence). He says, "Nothing's riding on this but the first amendment of the constitution - freedom of the press - and maybe the future of the country". No shit, Ben. No shit.

(My drink pairing for this film is a Manhattan. Big in the 70s, plus we are gonna need good stiff drinks for the next four years.)

My takeaways:

#1 - Sometimes I surprise myself with what I read as a kid.

#2 - I've been re-reading the Potter books the last few weeks and am horrified/fascinated at the similarities of the politics in the books and in our reality. I'm currently reading Order of the Phoenix and Hermione reminds Harry and Ron that Dumbledore told them "we are as strong as we are united and as weak as we are divided. Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust."

#3 - Maybe I'm like the Benjamin Button of reading. All the President's Men when I was 9 and the Potter series in my 40s!

Here's to you, my friends! Fight the good fight.

xoxo...hashtagSueslife

Shit I binge-watched in December

So I'm back to working for a living. Which is simultaneously great and a drag. Not surprisingly, my kitten is having some issues with this (Cosmo is used to my comings and goings but in Finn's short life he's had me around for a significant chunk). Adorable: in the middle of the night he carries his toys onto my bed so we can play. Not adorable: a couple nights ago I found a poop in the doorway to my bedroom. I think he was trying to trap me in.

My three months off were fantastic (duh). Weirdly, each month ended up having a bit of a theme. October was all about deep-dive cleaning/organizing. November was consumed by travel. December devolved into one big, long television binge-fest. Honestly I couldn't have been happier with how my December turned out. I barely saw any humans with the exception of the folks at my local grocery store (they probably know me pretty well, actually) and the woman who taught the Pilates Circuit class I attended all month. This class was interesting, actually. It's at a ridiculous time for anyone who works a normal job and it started the first week of December (oddly, I had been thinking "oh, in December I want to get back to taking Pilates" and then I got an email around Thanksgiving that this class was starting a block from my house. The gym offered a 10 class discounted pass for the holidays and I had exactly 10 classes I could take before I started work. Serendipity, baby.). For the first several classes I was literally the only person in the class - I was getting private lessons from the teacher at an insanely discounted price. She was a trooper about it (I would have been bitter) and by the end of my stay there were at least 2 or 3 students per class.

I guarded my December time jealously, knowing that in only a few short weeks I'd need to be social and "on". Here's the thing about me. I think I totally read as an extrovert because I can talk to anyone but I can go days without making actual contact with any humans and feel good about it (social media and email help, but still). I think that makes me an ambivert. Or maybe I'm an extrovert with my moon in introvert. I don't know.

So similar to my Shit I Watch on the Plane posts, here is my offering of what I binge-watched while I was home in December.

Department Q films -

The Keeper of Lost Causes - released in 2013

The Absent One - released in 2014

Conspiracy of Faith - released in 2016

This was a really random Netflix find. I love a gritty mystery movie. I don't always love subtitles (these films are Danish - they call them the Nordic noir series) but I had some time on my hands so I was willing to suffer through them. I'm really glad I did. 

Basically these films follow Detective Carl Mork who is a great cop with a bad attitude. He really is crusty as fuck. He gets shuffled into a cold case department because of said attitude, Department Q, with a Muslim partner, Assad. There is some tension around their differing religious outlooks early on, but Mork realizes that Assad is also a great cop, just with a better attitude and a prayer rug.

They solve some truly bizarre cases and always just in the nick of time. I love that kind of film. I'm not sure if there are plans in the works to make more films, but I hope so and I highly recommend these.

Thumbs up!

(I should be suggesting glögg as the drink pairing here, since I watched these in December. But it's January now, so enjoy a nice refreshing Carlsberg or Tuborg! Skål!)

Paranoid - released in 2016

This is a British/German TV series (funded by ITV and Netflix), again a crime drama (you will notice a bit of a trend here) that is touted as a conspiracy thriller. I read one article that says it's how NOT to do a conspiracy thriller, which I have to agree with. Honestly, until I looked again at this article I had kind of forgotten what happened in this series. It jogged my memory that they did such uninspired things as having anonymous notes sent to the police with messages like "Look into Angela's past". 

While I was watching it I quite enjoyed it...because of the performances, maybe? Or I was a bit bored and had all the time in the world to watch TV? It stars Indira Varma (Ellaria in GoT) who I always enjoy and the rest of the cast was good as well. But it can't be a good sign that less than a month after I watched all 8 episodes I couldn't even give you a  general synopsis without looking it up. Sigh.

Thumbs middle, leaning a bit downward.

(My drink pairing for this series is a Guinness and a slice of German Chocolate cake. Let's combine cultures and carb load.)

Travelers - released in 2016

This is a Netflix (partnered with Canadian TV) original series that is about time travel. I think you all know how much I love the time travel trope (I write about it all the time!), so this series was right up my alley. The conceit of this show is that folks from the future can inhabit bodies in the past at the moment of their deaths. This creates some interesting issues if the intel on the bodies is a bit faulty (drug addicts, mentally challenged folks, etc) so the storylines become a bit more nuanced and meaty. 

The travelers come to "now" to fix things for their future world. Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) is the main time traveler. I really want him to succeed because I feel like the last series he starred in (Perception) should have done better but didn't achieve the notoriety of W&G. Maybe he needs to play a gay guy again? 

This series KILLED me because there was a huge cliffhanger at the end of the last episode and as of now I can't find any confirmation that they may make another season. Gah.

Thumbs up!

(I'm gonna stick with beer for my drink pairing since I love a good theme. I'm giving you #3 on the Top Rated Beers in Canada list because I like the name: La Fin du Monde. A bit alarmist, perhaps, but it rolls off the tongue.)

Law & Order - 1990 - present day

Original

Criminal Intent

SVU

Between the three versions of this highly successful, long running franchise I had the option to be in the world of the NYPD pretty much all day, every day. And some days I was. I spent many, many hours with Briscoe, Green, Gorem, Eames, Benson and Stabler - not to mention the constant parade of ADAs (predominantly husky voiced women). 

It's incredible to me that I could watch these shows for hours on end and rarely see a repeat. What kind of magic IS this??

I'm pretty sure I have enough hours logged to be a full fledged detective. Now I just need to decide if I want to specialize in deep psychological stuff or special victims. It's a tough decision to be sure. I'd go for ADA but I'm pretty sure my voice is too high.

Thumbs up!

(Let's stick with the beer theme and make the drink pairing a Boilermaker. Shot of whisky in a beer. Quick and easy, just like investigating and trying a case in an hour episode.)

My takeaways:

#1 - I watched a couple of other series, but not in their entirety. I watched season 10 of Supernatural (they are now on 12, so I'm still way behind) and season 2 of iZombie. Love them both.

#2 - Upcoming series to watch: Luke Cage, OA (maybe), A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Magicians.  Any other suggestions?

#3 - I'm not really a beer fan, so I apologize in advance if my choices are shitty.

xoxo....hashtagSueslife

Good riddance, 2016.

2016 has just been a heaping pile of steaming shit.  

We lost so many amazing people this year it felt like an avalanche. And we gained...well, everyone has their own opinion on who we gained so I'll let you fill in your favorite descriptor (insert raised eyebrow here).

Last year in February I wrote a post entitled "January sucked" about the passing of Alan Rickman and David Bowie. Then so many more in the ensuing months (Gene Wilder, George Michael gah!!). It was like sand slipping through our collective fingers. There was really no way to get a handle on it. But to end the year with Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds - only one day apart? What the fuck??

These two really did me in. If I was asked to do a top 10 favorite movies list, you all know that Singin' In The Rain and Star Wars would top that list. I've written around these two movies so many times in this blog (I doubt I'd ever "revue" either film because I unabashedly love them both so much.  It would be like a one word post: Love.); they both have been a part of my life for so long.

I feel terrible for the two remaining family members. I can't imagine what Carrie's daughter Billie is going through, losing her mom and grandmother within a day of each other. Carrie's brother Todd, though, seems the most tragic. I saw him interviewed and read some things he's posted. He talks about Debbie telling him she wanted to be with Carrie after Carrie died. What does that do to you, when your mother says that about your sibling?  Is he feeling like "Why am I not enough to keep you here"? He talks about their beautiful love story but does he think "Didn't you love me as much, didn't we also have a love story"? 

I have been mourning the loss of these two women and it's obviously not because I knew them but because they both represent portions of my life. Debbie = watching musicals with my mother and Carrie = my adolescence. I guess when celebrities that you feel a connection with pass away a bit of your youthful idealism goes with them.

A little over a year ago, when The Force Awakens came out, I wrote this about Carrie Fisher:

Princess Leia Organa

I really, really loved Carrie Fisher in Star Wars.  She just seemed like the most amazing woman.  I knew she was fairly young, her mother was in one of my all time favorite films (Singin' in the Rain...in the early days of Star Wars I remember that the talk shows, etc, kept talking about how Carrie's breakout role had her playing off of two men, just like Debbie's.  I felt pretty mature because I knew what they were talking about), and she was so clever and witty in interviews.  I wore gold hoop earrings for like a year because I saw Carrie Fisher wear them.

Star Wars isn't the only iconic film Carrie has been in (When Harry Met Sally..."I want you to know, I'll never want that wagon wheel coffee table."  Classic!).  She works a ton.  She's been in movies and TV shows, has done some voice work, is a great writer and created an amazing one-woman show called Wishful Drinking which I was lucky enough to see in Berkeley when it came around.  And her dog's name is Gary.  Gary Fisher.  So good.

I've always (and still do) wanted to be friends with Carrie Fisher.  When I was young I wanted to be just like her.  In retrospect, I'm sure my family is pretty glad I'm NOT just like her.  I don't think I have enough in savings to go to a really good rehab.

Because I couldn't let go quickly, I watched a couple Carrie vehicles (I just couldn't do Singin' in the Rain or Star Wars...too much sad!).

Wishful Drinking - HBO released in 2010
As I stated above, I had seen it years ago live. Watching it again, though, was almost like a balm to soothe my aching heart. She's so engaging, witty and brutally honest. We know she's a strong woman but the beautiful thing is how she also let's us see her immense vulnerability. And the flow chart of Hollywood inbreeding is nothing short of brilliant.

Postcards From The Edge - released in 1990
I saw it back in the day (I read the book when it came out as well) and I really wanted a dose of Mother and Daughter together. I know what it's like to have a mom as a best friend. It's wonderful and difficult. Having that mother be a movie star...I can't even imagine. Anyway, the film was great largely due to the terrific screenplay written by Fisher. She so accurately captures their immense love coupled with absolute exasperation. It's her truth. Meryl Streep played the Carrie Fisher character. Obviously her acting is always flawless but goddammit I'm tired of her singing (This might be the first film she actually sang in, though. Oh wait, I have the Internet to tell me if this is true. Nope, not even close. She sang in like 3 movies prior to this.). Shirley MacLaine plays the Debbie Reynolds character. I tend to forget, because one has to sift through ALL her crazy, what a fantastic actress MacLaine is. Wowee.

(My drink pairing for any of the above is a nice glass of ice tea. Carrie struggled with addiction so let's honor her hard work.)

And really, the hits didn't stop coming up until the last minute. RIP William Christopher who played Father Mulcahy on MASH. 2016, you can fuck right off.

Here's hoping 2017 treats us all much more kindly. Wishing you all health and happiness in the New Year!





xoxo...hashtagSueslife