A song for you

Watch my smoke

Kim at allconsuming reminded me of an old favourite from my teenage years. I can remember the LP record and putting the needle down over and over again on that ridge just before "Let's hear it for the boy." Sigh...

I was also really loving the Fame TV soundtrack. This was a favourite of mine, and if this clip doesn't make you laugh then I don't know what will!!!

Thrilling

I watched the Coen brothers' "Blood Simple" last night. It's their first film and absolutely fabulous. If you like a really good thriller then I highly recommend it, plus...look how adorably young Frances McDormand is in it. This interview cracks me up:



But it doesn't pass the Bechdel test.

The Bechdel Test

Something to ponder:

Friday morning

I've been so busy and anxious lately that I haven't really noticed the wonderful things which have been happening around me. That's no way to live a life. So I went to the bookstore a couple of days ago and bought "Hunting and Gathering" by Anna Gavalda, because I enjoyed her latest book "Consolation" so much. This morning I woke up with a half hour to spare and it was pouring with rain outside so I settled in to reading the last few pages of the book, in bed, with the shutters open so I could look out at the rain. The experience was made doubly wonderful because I knew I had a time limit - Master Cb cannot be late for school.

I should explain here that Anna Gavalda ROCKS the endings of her stories, so I just knew each page of the story would make me feel happier and happier. Then, Mr. Cb (who is addicted to watching the Airbender series every morning while having breakfast) came upstairs during the ad break with a perfect latte made in my orange Grumpy Cafe mug. He placed it on my night-table, and I told him that this very moment was indeed the happiest moment of my entire life. He smiled, kissed me and went back to the Airbender. Then....then....Blue came jingling up the stairs, jumped on the bed and lay down on my feet, and then I read the last five pages of the book while sipping my coffee.

That's all I need. Really, I tell you. That's all I need.

Say yes to the dress

Miss Cb and I are completely addicted to this show. The combination of family/friend relationships and fashion is, in my opinion, exactly what my writing teachers mean when they say they want life and death stakes and a ticking time bomb in the first 15 pages.

And it's all real life.

Louise Bourgeois

I just heard that Louise Bourgeois died today, she was 98 years old. That's a long and beautiful life.

I never met Louise Bourgeois, and yet she had a profound effect on my own life. Ten years ago I visited my parents in London; Miss Cb was eight, Master Cb was five, and my parents were eager for me to go off and enjoy myself so that they could spoil the grandchildren. I obliged, with pleasure. One of the places I visited was the Tate Modern, and I was lucky to enough to experience Bourgeois' incredible sculpture entitled "I Do, I Undo, I Redo," a more apt title for my emotional landscape at that time I could not have found. I stood on line and waited patiently at each of the three towers, I walked up the stairs, I sat on the chairs and stared at the giant mirrors, I walked down the stairs and stopped at each tiny sculpture on the way. Louise Bourgeois had somehow managed to physically sculpt my feelings, and I shall be eternally grateful to her for that.