A dreary day. Evening? X-Files, Relic Hunter, “Immortal” … and?
I. A Dark Day
Ms. S. arrived home more or less at the scheduled morning time, but rather than just going to bed or shaking me awake, she poked intently and reported that she’d had a horrible shift.
Cause?
A gun was pulled.
To summarize a story that’s not mine and the details to which I only know partially, a woman broke into a room, stole about $700, one of the ‘residents’ chased her out, all the way to the parking lot, where her getaway car awaited, and a gun was pulled on the guy. He retreated, memorized the license plate, and the police were called.
Still, it was a traumatic event for Ms. S., who tried to call me several times during her shift, but I was asleep and my phone’s volume was rather low … so I missed the calls.
To cut a long story short (too late, I know): she feels the need to get away from this job; and we both have a desire to leave this town far, far behind …
II. Uninspiring, General Malaise
“General Malaise” ought to be a character name, but it’s not one I used today.
As it was, though, during my Sunday brunch prompt writing I had a hard time finding any inspiration, and to the extent I was able to mine and depths, etc., it was merely a vein of linguistic trivia already tapped this last week … the ergative and antipassive … and so on.
Food preparation was likewise uninspired and uninspiring, but at least well done. Last week at Publix we found bags of really cute potatoes on sale 2-for-1, and one that we got combines little yellows, reds, and purples. And they’re entirely delicious. They formed the basis of both my luch and my dinner. They go very well with dijon mustard.
Whenever I have tuna or sardines the cats rush to the kitch and congress around my legs.
But it’s not the opening of the can that does it … it’s the arrival of the can opener. That’s the signal they need. They stretch up the cupboards toward the counter, yearning, eyes wide … so they get water drained into one cup for them and then they get the emptied tin.
In the late afternoon we went for the usual ‘rotation,’ which has adapted and changed to be anchored by ‘The X-Files’ as our primary show, with ‘Relic Hunter’ as the default secondary (if we don’t have ‘Elementary’ or ‘Top Chef’ to view, for example). The former today was season 2’s “Blood,” which features William Sanderson as a recently terminated Post Office worker with a blood phobia … we get the government — or industry — testing chemical on the population, subliminal messages, mass murders (spree killings), and the like. Mulder and Scully still aren’t officially ‘back together.’
It’s a weird episode to watch a couple days after Newtown, Conn.
And echoes of Newtown probably made the work event worse for Ms. S.
III. Relaxing and Getting Back On Track
It rained all day; Ms. S. couldn’t go out to work out, but this evening during and between things we viewed she got in quite a bit … core … arms (with weights) … and pilates. That’s getting back on track. That’s working off stress.
After ‘The X-Files’ and ‘Relic Hunter’ Ms. S. wanted to knit some more and I put in Tarsem’s 2011 “Immortal” … a hot mess of a movie. I really should have brought out “Wrath of the Titans” to go with it (a couple months ago we watched the ‘remake’ of “Clash of the Titans” … which a number of people made just for the paycheck, it seems), but anyway …
… Superman-to-be ‘stars,’ Mickey Rourke and John Hurt slum it, and Stephen Dorff can’t decide whether he wants to be Kiefer Sutherland or Kevin Bacon. It’s visually stunning (as everything Tarsem does is) with some fantastic set pieces, but it’s weak in narrative continuity. It’s thematically rich, though, and I saw a good deal of potential … unrealized.
And we followed it up with 2012’s “The Watch,” another disappointment of sorts, not nearly as adventurous and really quite low-brow, but also really amusing in turns. What both share is that they very much “movies for men” … they’re also about masculinity, and whereas “Immortal” basically abuses all its female characters, only one of whom has any significant lines, “The Watch” reduces them to objects for the men (mainly sex objects … the horny wife, the flirty neighbor, the slutty daughter, the orgy fantasy).
I can’t say it was an ‘intelligent’ movie or very ‘rewarding,’ but it was amusing brainless entertainment (the best moments of which — perhaps in each movie? — were captured in the trailer).
Also, thank you, Billy Crudup, for showing up for your cameo and paycheck.
