FRUITVALE STATION

Fruitvale Station - I had an intense headache after watching this the other night, and it lasted all night long and into the morning, and I wouldn't have it differently because this movie was so good.  It's about a young man named Oscar, who is trying to get his life together, and it takes place in Oakland, California in 2009 and the early morning hours of 2010.  After watching Fruitvale Station, you'll wonder why the movie or any of the actors were not nominated for Academy Awards.  It's that good, and Michael B. Jordan, the actor who plays Oscar deserved to be among the best actor nominees.  As a movie, this was certainly better than Her and Nebraska, and on par with Philomena, Captain Phillips, Gravity and American Hustle.  This year was a year of tough stories and strong people, and Fruitvale Station can take it's place near the top even though it went unrecognized by the cool kids. And by the way, cool kids, where were Lone Survivor and Don Jon on your list?  Nine nominees and Lone Survivor not among them?  Huh? 

LET'S EXPLORE DIABETES WITH OWLS ESSAYS, ETC.

Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls  Essays, Etc. by David Sedaris - When you want to read something light and fun with a few laughs, David Sedaris is the way to go. Each chapter is a self contained story about his life and observations, although a couple of them are fictional sarcasm and at the end of this book, you get a funny poem about dogs.  I like that the funniest lines caught me unawares, buried here and there into the essays for unexpected bursts of laughter.  (LOLs but I just saw the Curb about LOL again last week and couldn't bring myself to write it!  and I've used the exclamation point here to indicate friendliness rather than snarkiness.)   

Today I'm determined to start painting our master bedroom.  This is going to be a real challenge, because it's a mess with stuff all over the place, and because the furniture is super heavy, more so than the dining room.  If I hadn't painted the dining room and powder rooms and been so happy about it, then I'd never be attempting this.  However, my happiness is transcending my lack of energy and space for the stuff.  I also know that I won't leave the project unfinished for very long if interrupted, and once the room is painted and pretty, I'll be motivated to really get it in order.  Which will mean purging for sure, and possibly new furniture and a rug.  I will take the before and after photos, but who knows whether they will be posted since my camera - photo - photo storage - computer space situation is so perilous. For the record, we're going from a pretty lavender color to my favorite Mirage Gray.  People in my life have said "don't gray out your house" and "you should get a soft warm color in your bedroom not cool gray".  So funny.  I didn't ask them what color to paint, just told them what color when they asked.  What I want them to say is "that's great! it always feels good to finally make the change after you've thought about it so much.  You can do this."

DON JON

Don Jon - One of my favorite movies this year!  This is an entertaining, funny and sweet movie about Jon, a single guy living his life.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is amazing, and you can't help but love his character for something endearing about his honesty.  I don't want to give anything away, because I went in without details and it was so much better that way.  That said, if you're not open minded to a little bit of graphic content in your movies, leave this one alone.  Otherwise, enjoy every minute like we did! 

TOMORROW THERE WILL BE APRICOTS

Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots by Jessica Soffer - I'd been waiting for that best book in ages to come along, and here it is.  Get it and read it next.  This is a beautifully written story about lives crossing in unlikely and circumstantial ways - both the young and old characters are compelling and deep.  Everything about this is good and unusual and loving and frustrating.  (Although it was so good that I really wasn't frustrated.)  I have a little beef about this story, something that I've noticed in a few other stories recently, and that is when there is a mystery, or occurrence that isn't fully explained, and the author decides to provide the answer, it's provided as hearsay through another source or character, rather than with firsthand storytelling by the character who had the experience.  That's me being picky about authoring and editing, though, and has no bearing on the excellence of this beautiful story about a girl named Lorca, a couple named Victoria and Joseph, a boy named Blot, and a woman who falls into the awful mother category.  However, the depth and beauty of this story saves it from being in that awful mother genre. 

We have been in the midst of a cold spell this winter, and last week I woke up one day and said to myself that the day was going to end, and I would either have started painting my dining room or not.  So, I did!  And yesterday I painted the powder room - took it from that dark dramatic gorgeous deep purple to my lovely and light Mirage Gray.  It's simply wonderful.  I'm camera/photo challenged lately, but I'll try to post some pictures soon.  There are pics in previous entries showing the purple when it was "After".  Now it's "Before" and I'm so so happy!  Maybe I'll put some pictures on Pinterest.  It feels clean and light and bright.  I'm going to continue with the Mirage Gray into the master bedroom and downstairs sunroom, and maybe even the guestroom.  Not sure when all this is going to happen, but I am motivated.  Every morning when I go downstairs, the first thing I do is open all of the dining room blinds (for many years now, I've been only opening the blind next to Pretty Bird's cage).  With the new furniture arrangement, the room is more open, and the other day when I was showing it to Helmut, he asked why I was leaving my blinds pulled and my room so dark all the time?  Lightbulb!  I opened them right up and will continue to do so forever.  It's such a happy room now, and the prettiest it's ever been.