This.Is.The.Beginning.End.

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

This is MOVIES!



Over the last year, Nikki and I have been all about the LIBRARY! The Provo Public Library is the beautiful, restored Brigham Young Academy, the quaint precursor to what is now the sprawling BYU campus. It houses loads of treasures: music, magazines, awesome old VHS tapes (we have a great old video-cassette player), DVDs, and books. At some point it would be great to talk about the great reads found at libraries, but for now we are going to discuss the world of classic American cinema!

I have long been a fan of black-white-movies. The idea that people (even my own mother!) lived in a world sapped of color yet vibrant in character and detail captured my attention as a little boy. Watching Katharine Hepburn lovingly tease Cary Grant while tagging around a leopard enthralled me. What was love if not a raucous game of tag? And to my childhood mind, there was nothing more fun then tag, thus love! I fell in love with the movies, the wonderful films of an era when love was the fulfillment of hopes or the remains of dashed dreams, manifesting itself as jealousy, adoration, or bumbling idiocy. In life, like the movies, I am jealous, adoring and a bumbling idiot. Nikki I love you and love sharing this world of make believe.

A quick word, I love the films of certain directors and have come to adore the work of a few actors. I am going to give you my impressions of some, please share yours.

Norma Shearer transcended type in her best roles. Some cinematographers found her difficult to photograph on film because she was not considered a beauty of the times. They saw her asymmetrical face as a problem to correct and made popular the notion that there was a "good side." Because of this she lost parts to other actresses. However, her lure as a strong woman with an unparalleled gift for acting meant that if she were replaced, certain directors would follow her, leaving the film.

In George Cukor's pitch-perfect satire The Women, Norma plays the woman at the center of a barnyard of bevies who let their need to gossip supersede their bonds of friendship. Most of the surrounding characters are stereotypes, albeit very funny takes on the established ones. (With the exception of Joan Crawford whose ugliness seeps out like a poison, creating the perfect match for Norma's realism.) Anyway, I am smitten by her multi-demontionality, equal parts independent modern woman, hopeful, vulnerable, unsure, and all-too certain. Sadly, this is the only film of hers I have seen. Anybody have another?

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Mr. + Mrs. Smith go to Washington

Rockville, Maryland actually. We have spent the last week - from Friday January 15th to Friday January 22nd - with the Stromsdorfers. Now we are in our new home! It is a real home too. With two bedrooms. The funny part is that we are sleeping in the second bedroom because it has a bed. And frankly, every time I go into the master bedroom I keep thinking I am going into someone's parent's room. But I am the someone and I am the "parent" adult. It is a weird feeling. Like I have to grow up - bigger.

Our view is gorgeous, the grass is green and there are so many trees. While none of them have leaves on them, it feels very homey, woody. And then there's the temple! We don't have a view from our house, but it is on the same lot as where we meet each Sunday for church. It shoots out of the top of the forest like a great white castle. I can't wait to go in! Church was great - such a friendly ward. Lots of young couples, army medical students, law students, older families. We have joined the choir. Fun. Annnddddd. We love it. This is where we are meant to be.

Of course, it is hard to be away from old friends. It is difficult to not just drop by with an arm full of board games or run off to our favorite Mexican joint. We don't have anyone to spend a few hours with jamming out to Rock Band or sharing Family Home Evening on Monday nights, but it will come.

We are close to other family that we haven't seen in awhile. My brother Ian and his wife Ashley with Lauren, Kate and soon-to-come Lincoln live 12 hours away in Clarksville, TN. Nikki's cousins live in Pitman, NJ and I have many friends in New York City (which is just a $25 round-trip, 3-hour ride on the China Town Bus!!). I am SOOO nervous. Can't help it. I have a wife to support, not to mention my unquenchable appetite. But it goes well for now. We have the faith that we are where we are supposed to be, and that I will find the job that is right for my career.