A Reward of Bears

Dear Friends,

Because you have been patiently waiting for a new titillating post, I'm rewarding you with an adorable picture of bears. I will again be posting regular titillation by Tuesday. Please wait with bated breath.

Best wishes,

Martha O.

Work Hold

Here's the deal. Blogging will be light for the next week or so. "For why?" you ask with desperate tears?

1) I'm working temporarily during the day at my old job sewing costumes at my local university while they need help.

2) I also just picked up some editing work that I'm doing on a rush basis and it will likely take most of my free time.

3) Last night I couldn't think of anything I wanted to write about that would fit into the small timeframe I had to write. Anything you want to hear about?

Of course I will try to find writing time to keep y'all fascinated, especially since I know the emotional balance of your lives now depends on my blog. In the meantime, here is an emotional boost for the times you come to my blog and there's nothing new to greet you. Bill Murray is wise.

Trailer Tuesday: Meh

I've watched a whole heap of trailers in the last little while, but I haven't seen anything that's really getting me jazzed. So instead I have two trailers for movies that I will likely see, but I'm not waiting with bated breath.

First, The Bourne Legacy starring Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz, and all the familiar faces from other Bourne movies. Renner plays assassin Arron Cross who was trained in the same program as Jason Bourne, and this is Cross' story--which of course includes loads of violence. This trailer is more of a teaser at this point (Rachel Weisz doesn't even make an appearance unless you count her voice), but it has potential. The makeup in the first bit looks amazing.

Second, is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Yes, you read that right. This film builds supernatural lore around the quirks and oddities associated with Mr. Lincoln. I have some excitement about this movie, but I also have this deep, niggling distain, and I'm not entirely sure why. I think, like the rest of the world, I'm simply over-saturated with vampires, even though I give no attention to them unless I'm watching reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Special bonus: Alan Tudyk is in the film! You may know him as Wash from Firefly. Oh, how I adore Wash, and Alan Tudyk by association.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't believe that I've gotten this far in life without reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; it has been one of those literary "aha" moments for me. It's an exquisite coming of age story that is deftly told with care and love. Author Betty Smith conjures huge amounts of detail without making the prose dense or laborious. More than almost any other book I have read, I easily pictured each character's face, gait, and mannerisms, just as easily as I pictured the streets, buildings, and storefronts in turn of the century Brooklyn--all without realizing that I was reading "descriptions." 

Smith's deftness led me to care about the characters in ways that I've hardly cared about fictional characters before. I'm generally not a maternal person, but I cared about Francie, the protagonist, in maternal ways. I constantly wanted to reach out and physically and emotionally guard Francie as she traversed the paths of poverty, discrimination, ignorance, family, relationships, and so many kinds of love. I wanted to shake other characters and scream, "There is brilliance and potential greatness in the girl you're overlooking!" Of course, if I could do that, Francie would never have traveled the difficult paths that allowed her to arrive on the cusp of realizing her greatness.

This is a permanent collection book.

View all my reviews

Humans of New York

I stumbled upon the lovely blog Humans of New York (HONY) a couple of weeks ago and I am addicted. HONY is the project of photographer Brandon Stanton that he started after he stopped being a stock trader. Stanton approaches people in the streets of New York that he finds interesting and asks for their photograph. In the process he asks them simple, conversational questions, and often comes away with answers that may be complicated, funny, sweet, fascinating, or poignant. What he produces is what he describes as "A photographic census of New York. One street portrait at a time." 

I love projects like this because a) I love to people watch, b) I'm not extroverted enough to approach strangers in this way, and c) I feel that in a small way I'm learning things about different walks of life in a thoughtful, well-crafted way. 

On his Tumblr he posts a single shot that may or may not include a caption of some sort. And on his blog he posts more photos and often writes stories about the people or public events that he photographs. I truly hope that you enjoy what you find here, because it is beautiful. *Update May 22, 2012: He's also on Pinterest.

“Everyone’s gonna love you.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why’s that?”
“You’ve got aura.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely.”

“I’m a special victims prosecutor.”
“What does that mean?”
“I represent children, the elderly, and rape victims.”

This guy was huge, mohawked, and tattooed.
A real intimidating character— then he smiled.

A Bone to Pick with Denim Capris

This plea goes out to all women who wear denim: For the love of all that is good and decent in this world, please, PLEASE, stop wearing denim capris! My arguments are as follows:

1) I've rarely seen a pair of denim capris look flattering on anyone; they look like ill-proportioned jeans. See examples below.

2) If you are hot in jeans, you will be hot in denim capris. Exposing an extra foot of flesh on each leg while still swathed in heavy, tightly woven denim will not do much to cool you down.

3) Denim capris strike me as a very "mom" wardrobe choice, and not in a good way.

4) An especially odd practice is rolling up regular length jeans to become capris. It is a terrible idea. You're not fooling anyone. The giant cuffs look heavy and clunky around your calf, which happens to be the thickest part of your lower leg, which is made to look thicker with the fatty cuff wrapped around it. And generally speaking, capris tend to "cut" the leg, meaning they make the leg look shorter by cutting the visual continuity of the leg. 

But if capris are a wardrobe staple, remember that capris also come in an array of other summer-appropriate fabrics. And don't forget your other summer options: loose pants, walking shorts, skirts, and nudity*.

 

 

*To avoid arrest for indecent exposure, use the nudity option only when and where appropriate. 

Trailer Tuesday: Hide Away & The Dark Knight Rises

Today I bring you Hide Away starring Josh Lucas. This movie looks haunting and sad. I mean, it may not even have a happy ending, people. But I've always liked Josh Lucas and I've also always liked sail boats--at least in theory since I've never been on one. Sailboats hold this lonesome magic for me, meaning they encompass a romantic notion of a place to be alone with the benefit of wind in my hair and the smell of the ocean. At least something like that. I ain't no good at talking romantical-like. I'm not sure what any of my uncharacteristic romantic notions have to do with this trailer, but I hope you see something you like.

This just in, the new trailer for The Dark Knight Rises! It's looking good, except for the part that I didn't know Anne Hathaway is playing Catwoman. Hopefully the awesome of the movie in general will outstrip any clunkyness she'll inevitably display.