Obsessing and Moving On
Dame Barbara CartlandI'll admit I get obsessed about any number of things. It never lasts long, but while it does it is all-consuming. I remember a fling I had with Barbara Cartland books when I was 14. I went to the library and got armloads of them. Those heroines with heart-shaped faces and huge eyes. The one, sweet kiss I waited a whole book for! But, after reading 50 or 60, I wanted something else. I moved on.
I had it bad one year for Tagalongs - the Girl Scout cookies filled with luscious peanut butter on a vanilla cookie, smothered in chocolate. I bought for myself (not to share with family) at least 3 boxes. I ate them all. By myself. Toward the end, they had no flavor. I burned out on them. I moved on.
I do it most often with great songs. I have many CDs to which I listen endlessly, looping and relooping a single song, a group of songs, or the whole CD. I have burned out on many great CDs. I have learned to pace myself a bit, not to play it when it no longer gives me that seat-bouncing giddy rush when I hear the opening bars. Because when the thrill is gone, I'll move on.
I like to think I have learned, at least a little, not to be so obsessive. It's hard on relationships, for one thing. My husband and I have been married for 14-1/2 years and dated for 4-1/2 years before that. Nineteen years is a lot of years. It took some doing to get us past the no-longer-obsessed stage and into a more mature relationship. It was worth it. If I can manage to do the same with books and cookies and CDs and movies and any number of other things, I may grow up yet!
How about you? Do you obsess or are you one of those annoying, balanced people? If you are a reformed obsessive, what's your secret? Please let me hear I'm not alone!Labels: Girl Scout cookies, Life, movies, Music
Why Does Depression Equal Art?
If you are a follower - even a casual one - of the
Academy Awards, you know how dearly Oscar loves a depressing movie. I'm gearing up for the 79th annual Academy Awards, so I have made a (quite extensive) list of movies I need to see before the awards ceremony. To be perfectly honest, I had given up on the Oscars years ago, when my kids were small and I never got to see movies until they were on TV. Gradually, we began renting movies that weren't animated and my old love of all things cinema gained new life.
More recently, I learned that my friend Suse throws an annual Oscar party. Once an intimate affair, it has taken on a life of its own. This year, our friend
Sabrina Jeffries is hosting the soiree at her house. It will be wonderful, I'm sure, but the pressure is enormous. The pressure to win the contest, that is. Throw in a dollar, guess the winners. Last year, I had seen (through concerted effort) many of the nominees and did quite well in the contest. This year, there is stiff competition and I still have about 30 movies to watch before the ceremony. Time's a wasting!
This weekend, I saw
Dream Girls which was wonderful. All I know is,
Jennifer Hudson deserves whatever they have to give her for her performance. She was fabulous! Plus, it was not a happy movie, but certainly happier than the other two I saw this weekend.
"The Last King of Scotland" I was prepared for. I knew any movie about Idi Amin could not be heartwarming. But the graphic violence caught me off guard. Especially the torture scene near the end. It certainly leaves no room for one to sympathize with Amin, but who would have anyway? Wonderful performances all around, though. On a different, but still depressing, note I also saw
"Pan's Labyrinth" this weekend. Again, Franco's Spain is not a warm and fuzzy setting. But it does star a young girl and has a fairy tale component. It's not a Disney fairy tale, however. More like the real Brothers Grimm. Again, high body count and no shortage of torture scenes. But, it was gorgeous, compelling and captivating. Overall, the weekend's viewings left me with lots to think about, but
no lingering smiles.
Which leads me to the basis for this post: depression. Why, in order to qualify for an Oscar, must a movie (even a documentary) be horridly depressing, violent or shocking? The only warm fuzzies this year are the films nominated in animated features. And the jury's out on
"Monster House" since I haven't seen it yet. I suppose I could give snaps to
"Pirates Of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and
"Little Miss Sunshine" for being somewhat uplifting. Still, not a perky group of films.
I won't even get started on how difficult it is to find a copy of
any of the Short Films - Animated or Live Action if you are not a member of the Academy. Or the fact that it's a crapshoot whether you will have access to see any of the Foreign Language Films. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to see three of them at
The Galaxy in Cary. I also saw a lot of foreign language films there that weren't nominated for anything. They were mostly Bollywood films.
I like Bollywood films. They always have happy endings!
Labels: academy awards, art, movies
