simple things

(Yes, yes, I realized late last night, about 12:40am that I lost track of posting yesterday. Ah well. It's my fifth year doing this and the first where I missed days. I suppose with all that's on my plate it is to be expected).

Late Saturday The Music Nerd (trying on a nickname for my sweetheart, we'll see if it sticks) and I were driving home after an all day meeting in Cambridge that we attended. I was asked about my favorite movies of the holiday season. Rudolph is undoubtedly a top favorite, as is The Grinch. The Year without A Santa Claus is another, the songs crack me up. I also spoke about watching the Nutcracker Suite every year, not that I remember which company performed it, or if it were the same production aired year after year. Then I recalled how once a year The Wizard of Oz would be on television. It seemed to me that it was on every November, though I don't have any clear recollection, not really.

Sunday I woke sullen, cranky, and unmotivated. I gave fair warning to the Music Nerd, who was gracious about it, asking if there were anything to help. "No," I replied flatly. Being faced with such a sweet inquiry, and those gorgeous, kind eyes, I started blabbering about all the things that were overwhelming me: I have so much school work to due; terrified I won't pull it off, that I will freeze like the last time I attempted grad school; my house is a mess - needs a true cleaning; I've gained a bit of weight; behind on DNE work, and basically I blathered on about my fears, anxiety, generally bitching about my life.

As I attempted to settle in to accomplish some of the mountain of schoolwork, suddenly the television was on, a movie was starting. Without me noticing, Music Nerd had popped in a dvd - The Wizard of Oz. The smile that came over was so big, my heart lifted with the sweet gesture. Music Nerd was surprised at my response. This is at least the second time that MN has done the exact perfect thing to attempt to remedy me when I have been at some of my worst.

Simple things, thoughtful gestures, makes life so much better.

Twisted Advertising

(I have not seen the movie, nor do I have any plans to, just to clarify my total lack of knowledge of the true plot line or ending.)

First the idea that there's been a movie produced on the premise of a "no strings attached" (NSA) arrangement is ludicrous. However I noticed, in a rare moment of paying real attention to commercials, that they are selling this as the first date movie of 2011. Really? So a movie about a sexually convenient relationship is a good movie for a new romance?

Now I am not a prude, in fact I had a few of those before such there was a descriptive term for it. I am in fact "involved" with someone where we do not talk about the future or "us", not a bit. Nor am I joined at the hip with the concept of monogamy but I am not getting this. Perhaps it's part of the "Pretty Woman" syndrome of movies - the most unlikely arrangement results in love and implied foreverness; the idea that getting the milk for free (or not so free in the case of P.W.) results in the guy buying the cow despite conventional wisdom.

It further cements the notion that women can change men, that women are always ultimately looking for a relationship regardless of what they say. This implied message is what galls the most about this movie and others like it. Women will connive, seduce, flatter, anything to not cop to the fact that they want a relationship; and in fact are not all that picky about who they want to settle down with. The idea that women need without rational thought, without regard for anyone else's feelings to pair off and ideally mate asap because there is an invisible, inaudible clock propelling them towards merciless one track functioning when it comes to dating is disrespectful at best, and misogynistic to the nth degree at worst (and is the more likely reality).

Now I realize I watch plenty of movies that do no service to women, and enjoy them. For example I just finished watching the entire Thin Man series with Myrna Loy and William Powell. While I took great pleasure in the witty repartee, the lovely fashions, and the relative innocence of sexuality, occasionally I winced as Nora Charles is portrayed as not particularly clever (sometimes rather dense in fact) and seen as offering little to the solution of the crimes. The next series I will be viewing is all the James Bond movies - the ultimate in women as eye candy, especially in the early days. Now there is a bit of redemption here because some of the maniacal evil geniuses are women, and some of the later movies have more admirable female characters - small steps.

Why is this movie getting under my skin so bad? Good question, one I wish I could answer with anything like clarity. An excellent feminist dissection would be great but apparently I don't have it in me. I just know there are images bother me more than others. Perhaps the rapid fire witty dialog of Nice and Nora soothe me, maybe the sexy outfits, great chase scenes, and fabulous cars distract me. I don't know. I do know that the Charles' are a remnant of another time, a time when women had barely had the vote; Bond movies have evolved, albeit slower that molasses runs in a Vermont February but there has been some improvement. Movies like NSA just earn my annoyance, rise my ire, and generally make me haunt Netfl*x for more interesting options than mass market movies.