During summer vacation I can actually eat out, enjoy Austin’s many great restaurants, try new things, eat whenever I want, and yet my favorite lunch is to sit at home, read a magazine, and listen to something on the stereo while the dogs watch for dropped food.
Today it was National G, Bill Frissell, and my all-time favorite summer lunch prepared haiku style…
Tuna fish sandwich
Chips, and a glass of iced tea
Good Dog, Happy Man
Good, as in God, the style of Henry, or if I might call him so, Mr. James, author of The Turn of the Screw, who in the late nineteenth century wrote the thin ghost story, is torturous, as a stretching on the rack. One might imagine, if so inclined as to imagine such a horror, a horror beyond compare, the voice of Shatner, William Shatner reading each phrase, set off with a preponderance of punctuation in the form of commas, commas that precede every unnecessary phrase, like a water torture of Chinese design and implementation, dripping prose into one’s mind in an effort to present a story, a tale, of ghosts and other mysteries.
Woof. It’ll drive you nuts but perhaps that’s the point.
An unnamed narrator has been appointed to take care of two young children at an English country estate called Bly. The owner, a gentleman in London, has inherited the children and wants nothing to do with them so he hires a governess who promptly falls in love with the beautiful, innocent, angelic children.
Then she starts seeing ghosts. The apparitions are the former governess and her lover both of whom died under mysterious circumstances. No one else sees them, but it’s clear the children, Miles and Flora, are somehow involved.
At times I wondered if the narrator was seeing things that weren’t there, which caused me to question her sanity, but her spot on descriptions of the former servants whom she never met, led to me suspect that the ghosts were real.
The spirits seem to be engaged in some kind of communion with the kids, but it is unclear (intentionally so, I think) whether they are controlling the children or if the children are summoning them.
Applying this to Lost, the most obvious parallel becomes the story of Michael and his young son, Walt. When Walt’s mother dies and his step-father wants nothing more to do with him (apparently because Walt seems to exhibit some kind of psychic abilities) Michael comes to Australia to take Walt back to the US, which is why they are on the plane. While stranded on the island Michael comes to idealize Walt in much the same that the narrator of The Turn of the Screw comes to idealize her charges.
As with Miles and Flora, there may be more to Walt than meets the eye. Strange things seem to happen around him as if his thoughts alter reality. There are suggestions of this throughout the series, both on the island and in flashback. At times certain characters see ghosts, and Walt himself has been seen in places it’s impossible for him to be. Michael does not know it, but it seems that Walt (or his spirit anyway) is what led Shannon to her death.
Astral projection? Shaping reality? Your guess is as good as mine, but it’s clear that Walt has some kind of profound power that no one – not even Walt – understands.
At one point in The Turn of the Screw, the narrator describes a day spent playing with the kids on the grounds as a day in which she lived in a world of their creation. One wonders how much of the world of Lost might be a world of Walt’s creation in the form of some kind of psychic projection. There are suggestions that this might be the case as well as the ominous pronouncement in the season two finale that the Others do not want Walt because he turned out to be more than they bargained for when they kidnapped him at the end of season one.
The Turn of the Screw, like Lost, is very vague about what is actually occurring. In both stories the living see the dead, there are children who appear innocent but who possibly harbor tremendous powers, and there are adults who are driven to the brink of sanity in an effort to save those children.
Reading Turn of the Screw makes me think of Walt and raises a question about how his presence on the island affects the lives of the other survivors. Is Walt a cause of their problems or is he, like them, a victim of other unknown forces either natural or supernatural. I think Walt is probably controlling, perhaps unintentionally, some of the strange things that happen on the island.
Check out my other Lost book posts at The Lost Book Club.
Last week, I started on what will someday be my third novel. The second one, Try Everything in a Cartoon Romance, is pretty much done, but it’s time to begin a third one while I decide what to do with the second.
When I was in graduate school, I wrote a screenplay called Right of Way that I always intended to revisit and rewrite as a novel in order to explore the characters and issues more deeply than a screenplay allows. I’m using the old script as an outline while I get started on the story and reintroduce myself to the characters.
It starts in Austin in 1995. It’s about Larry and his younger brother, Chip, who has battled cancer on and off his whole life. After relapsing at age eighteen, Chip decides he’s not going to go back for treatment.
He runs away from his home in Houston and shows up at Larry’s doorstep in Austin wanting to “just try living for once.” He’s never really lived except in the books he read in the hospital and so with a head full of Kerouac, Thoreau, Hemingway and London, his own private wish-upon-a-star is to get to know his brother (who is ten years older and was all but forgotten by their parents who were perpetually focused on the sick kid) and travel to see the Grateful Dead, living the kind of adventure he’s read about in books.
Needless to say this is all quite a complication for his more strait-laced and settled older brother who wants to help Chip, but doesn’t know if helping him involves taking him on his grand adventure or getting him back to treatment.
That’s the story in broadest strokes. Even though I’ve already made major changes from the script I do have most of the story plotted out. I am, however, permitting myself to make as many changes as I want. Including the title, which for now is Short Time to Be Here, a modification of a line from the Grateful Dead’s “Box of Rain.”
I’m on page 15. It’s not really flowing yet. That comes later, when the characters truly start talking. The beginnings are always the hardest for me, but eventually the whole thing will come alive and then it just flows. I love when that happens.
Sometimes you wake up in the morning and your hot water heater is leaking or perhaps, it’s a sink overflowing. Maybe there are pipes in the walls making odd noises because something got flushed that shouldn’t have. Or perhaps one of your greyhounds has a case of rumbly tummy.
This isn’t Phoebe’s first case of the internal growls, but we think we’ve isolated the cause: canned K/D. Daphne has to eat K/D (that’s kidney diet, by the way) and Phoebe eats it as well. Usually they get kibble, and I mix vegetables in with it. Occasionally I get some canned K/D, which they enjoy, but now, finally, putting two and two together (or is that K and D) we realize that the rumbling noises are probably caused by the K/D, so back to veggies.
Today, though, they enjoyed that upset canine tummy treat: yogurt. After a couple small dishes of yoghurt over the course of the day, all hounds, I’m happy to report, are sleeping well and trying to figure out what they can eat to bring back the rumbles and thus the delicious yogurt.
***
Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.
If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.
From 1979-1982 we were stationed at Subic Bay Naval Base in the Philippines. That was 3rd – 5th grade for me. It was always either hot and dry, or hot and rainy, so everyone’s favorite escape was Baguio City high in the mountains of Luzon. We usually stayed at Camp John Hay an old base that had been converted into a mountain resort.
I remember Baguio being a nice place where the air was relatively cool and the mountains were beautiful. Sometimes there was even frost on the ground.
This photo was taken in 1981 with my old Kodak 110 instamatic, which accounts for the bluriness. Looking back as an adult, I’m impressed with my composition considering I didn’t know about such things back then. It’s a wonder my thumb isn’t in this shot as it is in so many others.
Chlorine bubbles
Teenage lifeguards
Lap lanes
Sun
He can’t hold his breath that long
She swims, swims, swims
Swim
She can’t hold her breath for him
Holding hands
Holding breath
Chlorine water bubbles
Break like glass
Smiling faces break the mirror
Sun
Swim
Summer
Ten more laps
Five
One
Holding breath
Holding sun
They hold each other
Swimming
Only Labor Day
(so far away)
dispels the dream
Of swimming, sun and
Water love
Chlorine swim
Sun five
Breath one
He will hold his breath for her,
Offering it like sunshine gold
From wrinkled hand
Swimming, she accepts
Breathes the breath
Of summer sun
—
This one came one summer day a few years ago while swimming laps at the neighborhood pool. Community pools are so ordinary and yet there’s a certain magic as well. Perhaps it’s just the way chlorine smells and warm water feels when it becomes part of memory.
In our effort to read new books while hopefully gaining insight into the various mysteries on ABC’s Lost, my wife and I are reading the books that appear on the show. We are, of course proceeding on the assumption that the books referenced and shown are included because of the way they interact with the show’s themes and not just because any given book was what the propmaster had on the truck when an actor needed something to do with his hands.
I started with Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. It’s about a sixth grade girl whose family moves to the suburbs. She buys her first bra, discovers boys, and hopes to not be the last to get her first period. Margaret also struggles with religion. Her mother is Christian and her father is Jewish, but she’s being raised without any religion, and she desperately wants to belong to one.
Reading this as a 35 year old man is probably akin to reading the literature of space aliens, but I did appreciate it for what it was: a book for pre-teen girls nervous about adolescence, and I can see why it’s so popular with that age group. It’s upbeat, hopeful and it makes it clear that it’s okay to be who you are. It’s also very honest and realistic, which I assume is why some people take issue with Judy Blume and try to ban her books.
Okay now on to Lost.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret makes its cameo in the episode in which Sun finds out she is pregnant (“The Whole Truth”). Presumably, she has just missed her period. In the hope that he might have a pregnancy test, Sun goes to Sawyer, who has been hoarding everything he scavenged from the plane crash. Sawyer is naturally reading a book he found in the wreckage. The books Sawyer reads seem to reflect on the episode at hand and in this regard Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret seems a clever joke considering Sun’s circumstances.
There are two other connections that I wonder about.
The first is the way in which Margaret constantly develops the wrong impression about people. She believes the lies told by the other girls about Laura Danker, the girl in class who has clearly already entered puberty. Everyone says she’s mean and something of a slut, and all the other girls make fun of her. It turns out she’s not any of those things as Margaret learns when she hurts Laura’s feelings. The other case of mistaken assumption concerns a boy: Philip Leroy, the most handsome boy in the class. Margaret and all her friends think that Philip is quite the young gentleman, and they all list him at the top of their “boy books” but he’s really just a mustard throwing, spitball slinging, girl tormenting little turd.
This is all important to keep in mind when thinking about Lost because as all the drama of Sun’s pregnancy is being played out on the beach, Henry Gale is being held hostage in the hatch. Who is Henry Gale? He’s one of “The Others” and we are to assume that this makes him one of the bad guys, but I’m not one hundred percent certain that the Others are the bad guys. Are we misreading Henry – assuming he is evil simply because we don’t really know much about him – just as Margaret misread Laura and Philip?
The second Lost connection concerns matters of faith. Margaret wrestles with faith and her relationship with God in much the same way that John Locke wrestles with his. Every night Margaret talks to God and asks for guidance and help with her problems. Locke’s act of daily devotion is to enter the numbers into the computer and push the button in the hatch every 108 minutes. It’s his prayer and what gives meaning to his life, but events in this episode lead to the season finale in which Locke decides to quit pushing that button just as Margaret quit praying.
The issue of wrestling with one’s faith is the clearest connection between Lost and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. It’s a central theme on the show and its treatment in Blume’s book of adolescent angst is what makes it’s inclusion in the show more than just a humorous juxtaposition created by the image of the rugged, hard, and cynical Sawyer engrossed in a book written specifically for pre-teen girls. It’s a subtle reminder of the way in which faith and reason frequently go to war with one another both in real life and on Lost.
My wife and I have become addicted to ABC’s Lost. One of the things we’ve noticed is that the characters often reference or are seen reading interesting books. Some of them I’ve read and others she’s read and some neither of us has read, but probably should have.
Wikipedia’s Lost page lists all the books that have appeared or been “somewhat mentioned” on the show, and so we decided to start a two-person book club in which we will read (or reread) the various books before the October 4 start of season three. Some of the books purportedly provide clues to what in the hell is really happening on that island. Others just reflect certain themes in the show. Either way, it’s an interesting list. I’ve put asterisks by the books I’ve already read and will be rereading:
It should be an interesting summer of reading. I’ll be writing about these books as I finish them (as usual) and trying to relate them to Lost. If you’ve read any of these and watch Lost, feel free to join the fun in the comments or on your own blog and let us know what you think.
I’ll be getting the shortest one knocked out of the way first: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Update: Here are links to my posts about each book:
Update 2: I am no longer updating this post. Updates are now linked to this page, which includes the season three books.
Yeah, yeah, a Monday Movie Roundup on Tuesday, but it was a long weekend so in a way this is kind of like Monday besides I’m a teacher so it’s actually kind of like Saturday for the next two months. So there.
To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962)
I showed To Kill a Mockingbird to my classes during the last week of school. One class had read the book and I figured the rest of my classes would enjoy it as well. Many of the kids had already seen it in their regular schools, but all who had seen it were thrilled to see it again. Some even told me that it’s “pretty good for a black and white movie.” I didn’t mind watching it five times in one week either. The performances are great, especially Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
200 Motels (Frank Zappa, Tony Palmer, Charles Swenson, 1971)
I like Frank Zappa’s music, and the blurb for 200 Motels made it sound like a documentary about the Mothers of Invention. Sometimes a movie sounds good, but then you find that it’s really just an opportunity for someone to expose some film and try to capture all kinds of weirdness. I think the Mothers were trapped in a fake nightclub. I think it was weirdness for the sake of weirdness. Sometimes that can be okay. This time it wasn’t. I suppose some people liked Zappa for his bizarre sense of humor, but I’ve always been very impressed with his musicianship as well as that of the Mothers. Unfortunately that’s not what this movie was about. Made dinner and turned it off after fifteen minutes to watch something on the science channel about the ion engines on NASA’s Deep Space One.
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (George Lucas, 2005)
If I were to be a Star Wars character, I would – like everyone else – be Han Solo, but apparently if I were to be a Jedi Knight, here’s who I would be…
how jedi are you? :: by lawrie malen
Revenge of the Sith was the best of the three Star Wars prequels. Honestly, I think it might be a bit better than Return of the Jedi. The thing that is so frustrating about the prequels is that the ideas are great. The story is great. There’s a lot to sit around and talk about as my sister-in-law and I do on many occasions. Unfortunately, George Lucas did it all himself and I think that’s part of why these three movies don’t live up to their potential. Still, I do enjoy watching them from time to time and I like the way everything comes together in this final installment. I don’t buy everything about the story (Padme dies of a broken heart ?!?) but then this is a series of movies in which space ships make noise in the vaccuum of space so I guess I can suspend disbelief a bit here. Technically well made, but flawed in writing and direction.
X-Men: The Last Stand (Brett Ratner, 2006)
We saw X-Men: The Last Stand yesterday. Despite the lousy reviews it’s gotten, I enjoyed it. It focused on the resurrection of Jean Grey aka Phoenix, a classic story in the X-Men mythology. Once again mutants are being oppressed by normal humans who have now developed a “cure” for mutation. Magneto, the best super villian ever, builds an army of mutants to take over the world and make it safe for mutant kind. The movie is a perfect example of a smart summer blockbuster filled with interesting characters (where was Nightcrawler, though?) and dynamic action sequences. It’s a solid end to the X-Men trilogy, but leaves plenty of room to expand the franchise. Probably indefinitely. Well made, fun, entertaining.
The Endless Summer 2 (Bruce Brown, 1992)
The Endless Summer 2 follows the trajectory of Bruce Brown’s brilliant 1966 surf documentray The Endless Summer but adds modern cinematic technology as it follows the adventures of Pat and Wingnut who retrace the path of their heroes from the original Endless Summer. The two look for the best waves and surf spots in Costa Rica, South Africa, Indonesia, Fiji, Australia, and Hawaii.
There are a few changes from the original itinerary and the movie isn’t quite as a innocent as the 1966 film, but it’s still a great diversion and the cinematography is truly stunning. As with the original Endless Summer, my favorite parts are when the surfers explore South Africa. They return to the “perfect wave” from the original film, though because of development it’s not quite as perfect, and they have plenty of run-ins with the local wildlife. Apparently, lions really like to eat wetsuits.
If you like surf guitar, beautiful ocean photography, gnarly surf sequences, and a sweetly dorky sense of humor you can’t go wrong with either of the Endless Summer films.