Yet again, I have a flat tire on the Camry. I guess flats happen a lot here because of the heat and unevenness of the roads; but nobody seems as plagued by them as I am. Speedy, the man I rent my car from, is going to stop by this afternoon to pick up my monthly payment and fix the tire. So this morning I went down to the reception desk to leave the key for him.
As the elevator arrived on the ground floor, I was taking my key off the ring. Then I dropped it. It bounced once on the elevator floor, once on the floor of the hallway and then plopped right down the elevator shaft! Imagine me watching this happen in slow motion, mouthing "NOOOOOOOOOO!", and then hearing the clink, clank, clunk as it hit the floor in the darkness below. I thought it was surely a goner.
This is how great living at 44 West Bay is: the Super was able to recover it in 15 minutes! I am a total cartoon character.
This past weekend was full of activity. I will update you as I update my pictures. I went to the Gala at the Hyatt for 21st Century Leaders, and to the Film Festival. Last night was the closing of the festival at the Museum of Islamic Art; it was so fun! I got to watch a movie outside in a lawn chair with my toes in the grass (a true novelty here in sandyland)! And see Robert DeNiro in the flesh! Bobby-boy is looking good!
On Saturday night, I saw Bright Star and I really loved it. It's the movie about John Keats and Fanny Brawne by Jane Campion, and besides being shot beautifully, it was so well acted, and it made me remember how much I love the going to the movies (the last I saw here was Sharks in Venice back in August...while entertaining, a masterpiece it was not). But what I liked the most about Bright Star was how smart it was about its subject matter--the unconsummated love of an ill-fated romantic poet. This territory could be a minefield of pitfalls and indulgences for many filmmakers, but their love story never became cloying or sentimental. The characters are adolescent and immature and given to swoons and smelling flowers, but the moments where their emotions are ridiculous and overwraught are moments the movie is aware of. Does this make sense? It honors the highstrung nature of young love, but doesn't make any statements about this kind of love being more pure or more honest because it's unjaded, or less pure or less honest because it's naive . Sort of like in the movie Dan In Real Life (which I really like), where Dan's (Steve Carrell) middle daughter tells him "YOU ARE A MURDERER OF LOVE!" and it's really funny, but the movie isn't quite making fun of the kid for saying it. Anyway, that will be lost on you if you don't see either of these movies, but I do highly recommend Bright Star, if you have patience for careful period dramas with turbercular heroes. I always have; it's my gift.
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