Movie summary: "De-Lovely"

Cole Porter marries Ashley Judd.  Everyone speaks in clever sentences.  She dotes on him with all her dimples.  He is gay.  She becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the marriage.  He is gay.  The music is good, and you play "Spot the famous musician."  Everyone dies very slowly, pondering the sadness of it all as they go.  Repeat and fade.

Up in the Air

As I recover from getting the wind knocked out of me by "Up in the Air," I realize that it sacked me just as it shows so many people being sacked. I was enjoying a wonderful romantic comedy plotline and laughing more than usual. I was feeling connected to the movie and to the person I was with. And then, wham, I'm cut loose, left alone, adrift. Wondering what the hell happened. Having proudly protected my independence for so long, I find myself deluded that I have become part of something and understand that I am just a parenthesis in someone else's life. Still isolated. It is a devastating feeling: a powerful movie, to inspire such loneliness.

Rebuttal the next morning: Yes, what a powerful movie. But the difference between the George Clooney character and myself is that I have a home. I have a wonderful home with wonderful friends -- I have many longstanding connections with people where I am part of the narrative, not a parenthesis. My home is not isolating: it's not a special passcard, it's not a single seat on a plane. It's expansive and inclusive. His life was so isolated that meeting a (perfect) partner is a random and rare event. My life is grounded and is defined by a breadth of communities and affection.

Once again, a powerful movie, to bring us to such an experience of isolation.

Shopping adventure a la Pretty Woman

I took a much-needed day off of work today and went into SF to find a dress for my brother's wedding.  It felt like a scene from "Pretty Woman."

My mother had offered to pay for the dress and gave me what I thought was a very generous budget. When I entered Saks in my Target skirt and t-shirt, everyone who worked there looked away. And there are a lot of people working at Saks! It looked like they worked in pairs. As I walked through the fragrance/cosmetics/jewelry floor, there were no customers except for me. Something like 20 employees, and none looked at me.

As I wandered through the designer section, I continued not to get much attention despite the fact that I was never out of view of one of their workers. Finally I picked a dress off a rack. A woman came up to me with a big smile and said, "Would you like to try that on?" I asked her what size it was, since the sizing was Hungarian or something, and she paused and said, "Oh, that won't fit you."

To the political cynics

I saw a movie tonight that is incredibly poorly named but incredibly well done. Amazing Grace -- you'd mix it up with Saving Grace, the story of a widow in an English village who grows hydroponic pot to make money.

It's a political thriller. Amazing Grace refers to the song, apparently written by a slave trader in the eighteenth century. It's the story of William Wilberforce and one of his many achievements in Parliament: the abolition of the slave trade.

It's a true story:

William Wilberforce led the abolition of the slave trade in England; he established the SPCA, the first free education movement, prison reform, child labor protection, and the first national gallery of art. At a time when the English Parliament represented only a tiny fraction of society, the landed fraction, and most seats were not contested.

I would suggest to anyone who is cynical about the power of our elected officials to do good that within any system a person with conviction can succeed. It takes a lot of work. Complaining is not being part of the problem. Working for whatever issues you believe in is the solution.

There's good and bad in all people, and that's why it's important to pay attention to the good in people.