July 5, 2001
Dear Everyone:
I woke up this morning in my own bed, for a change. Last week at this time we were in Ashland. The week before that, I was in Oklahoma.
The Ashland trip went well, as usual, with only a few kinks. Mother’s back was troubling her and the stressed tendon in my right thigh was up to its usual tricks. But other than that, things were OK.
We stayed at the newly refurbished Ashland Springs Hotel (formerly the “Cleopatra” Hotel, formerly the Lithia Springs Hotel). The new owners did a lot more more than slap a new coat of paint on the old girl. They completely redid the place inside and out. Real bathrooms, for instance. (The earlier rendition was about the size of a phone booth.)
Central heat and air-conditioning instead of steam pipes and window units that froze up in less then 30 minutes. However, I was assured that, while the elevator was much cleaner and lighter (as in not as dark, rather than not as heavy), it was still the same elevator as ever before. And, still, only the one elevator.
I’m thinking if Stephen King spent a week on the top floor, he could come up with a really good horror story about elevators with minds of their own and a nasty sense of humor (Oh, you wanted to go up? Well, I want to go down, so there!).
As for the plays, the only ones we hadn’t seen before were Enter the Guardsman (a musical) and Troilus and Cressida. For myself, this completes the canon, meaning I’ve seen all the Shakespearean plays that Ashland produces. And it only took 27 years. It’s good to have a goal.
The gremlins were really out in force this year, although you have to remember that the outdoor performances had only just started a few weeks ago. So they hadn’t worked all the bugs out yet. The revolving stage for the Guardsman sometimes decided to over- or under-revolve. And the stage-within-a-stage curtain wasn’t always working.
Then there was the torrential rain that came down just before The Merchant of Venice. We were snug and dry, being in the front row of the pavilion (I always ask for seats in Row T, if available). It stopped raining in time for the stage hands to squeegee little waterfalls off the front of the stage before the beginning of the play.
But then it started up again about halfway through the first half and several actors slipped during their performances (they’re very good at adlibbing when this happens). Then it stopped in time for the intermission and stayed dry for the rest of our stay.
Then, on our last night, the electrical system went out during The Merry Wives of Windsor. The intermission was extended to half an hour while they tried to get a motor that operates a moving part of the stage to work. Finally, they gave up and just told the audience not to notice anyone in black pushing and pulling equipment around.
The Tempest and Troilus and Cressida fared better, possibly because the sets were simpler and had fewer moving parts. The Tempest did especially well.
Hey, it could have been worse. I understand the Globe Theatre burned to the ground once.
In other news…
Saw three movies, mostly without “Jeannie”.
Lara Croft, Tomb Raider. Lara, played by Angelina Jolie, is an English noblewoman with a lot of money, a lot of time on her hands, and a very low threshold for boredom. It’s based on an early video game. There’s a disreputable archaeologist (shades of Indiana Jones) and some kind of artifact that, if worked properly, can make time stand still. Lara wants the artifact so she can have one last moment with her presumably late father, played by real-life father John Voight. Much jumping around and firing 20,000 rounds from a single handgun.
Eminently skip-able.
A.I. Evidently the late Stanley Kubrick worked on this project for many years, trying to get all the pieces together. When his failing health made it clear that it wasn’t going to happen, he turned it over to Steven Spielberg. It’s even credited as a Spielberg / Stanley Kubrick film. (It’s also dedicated to Kubrick at the end.) So it has many elements from both directors.
The idea here is that the polar ice caps melted and all the shoreline cities were destroyed. With much less arable land available, people aren’t allowed to have any children, unless they get a special permit. So a scientist decides to invent a child robot that can love a parent and be loved in return. (Dumb idea. What happens when the parents turn 60 and the “child” is still only ten years old?)
One reason this project may have sat on the shelf for so long could be the same as The Sixth Sense, the need for an actor capable of playing the “child”, David. Enter Haley Joel Osment. He’s wonderful.
Not so the rest of the movie. For some reason, Steven Spielberg has a thing for Pinocchio. Hence, “When You Wish Upon a Star” is extrapolated throughout the background music in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Here is David, little boy lost in the woods with frightening people with flashlights chasing him (shades of E.T.). He is befriended (much as Pinocchio was) by a not terribly scrupulous character, “Gigolo Joe”, played by Jude Law. Joe is also a robot whose job description is his name. Law is very good in the role, playing a kind of full-size Ken Doll, but don’t take anyone under 13 to see it unless you want to answer a lot of embarrassing questions.
David goes through a series of quests until he actually starts looking for the Blue Fairy, who alone can grant his wish to become a “real boy” so his Mommy will love him. And then the whole thing turns into 2001: A Space Odyssey. No kidding. Some terrific special effects, like a half-submerged Manhattan, with only the torch still showing of the Statue of Liberty.
Bottom line: If you’re dying to spend time in an air-conditioned movie house and your only two choices are this or Lara Croft, this is better.
Finally, “Jeannie” and I went to see Pearl Harbor for the Fourth of July. But we ended up seeing Cats & Dogs instead. Something to do with only having to wait 10 minutes longer for the movie to start, having a snack, avoiding the parade marching down the road immediately besides us, and getting home before dinner time. (Pearl Harbor is around three hours long. Cats & Dogs is an hour and 33 minutes.) Plus “Jeannie” was more in the mood for a comedy.
Now this is a cute movie. While Jeff Goldblum (who probably needs to look for new representation) tries to find the formula for the perfect anti-dog-allergy medication, an army of cats is out to stop him and an equally determined army of dogs is out to stop the cats.
It’s a delightful, if harmless, send up of all the James Bond, Mission Impossible, Spy-Versus-Spy type movies ever made. The cats are led by a fluffy white Persian who bears a strong resemblance to the cat in several of the early Bond films. He has at his disposal Siamese ninja fighters and a Russian tabby who’s a demolitions expert and who snarls, “You fight like a poodle!”
On the other side are a hard-nosed veteran Shepherd named Butch, and an eager Beagle puppy named Lou, plus assorted cohorts. There were a lot of kids in the audience, but the movie is really aimed at the adults, who would get a joke like a TV reporter (dog) named Wolf Blitzer. “Jeannie” and I would spot a sight gag and laugh. Then about 15 seconds later, the rest of the audience would catch on.
This one is a load of fun, and definitely worth seeing. But it might not be a bad idea to wait until you can watch it on tape or DVD. That way you can rewind and catch the jokes that went by too fast the first time.
And cat-lovers, be warned.
This was definitely written by a bunch of dog-people.
Love, as always,
Pete
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