Things Self Liked: A Quiet Place, Part II

John Krasinski, such a sly one: makes a sequel that still puts him on-screen despite his character dying in the first. But it makes complete emotional sense.

This is a very stylish horror movie. Mebbe not Alien level, but still. It’s very stylish.

Another thing that shows Krasinski’s slyness: he introduces us to ugly Cillian Murphy. Think about that for a minute. UGLY CILLIAN MURPHY.

The actress who plays his deaf daughter is absolutely amazing, and there is of course Emily Blunt.

Emily Blunt. Emily Blunt. Emily Blunt.

Even when she’s running, she looks like a ballet dancer.

Also, the filthiest feet (But why does Cillian Murphy’s character wear boots when EVERYONE ELSE IS BAREFOOT)

Also, clever use of an oxygen tank.

Self loudly gasped at least once.

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

A Photo a Week Challenge: CIRCLES ON CIRCLES

Today’s challenge is from Nancy Merrill: A Photo a Week.

This week’s challenge is Circles on Circles.

Here’s a standing lamp in her living room.

Here’s the roof of the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. The gorgeous building was by Renzo Piano. Self took this picture from the Rainforest. She remembers there were so many butterflies (not one of which was captured by her camera, boo).

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

Flower of the Day (FOTD), 30 May: Columbine

The columbine on self’s front porch are blooming again. She went out to take a few pictures for the May Colors and Letters Challenge (today’s color is Orange Red), but ended up taking pictures of her other flowers as well.

Thanks to Cee Neuner for hosting the Flower of the Day Challenge!

May 30 Colors and Letters: ORANGE RED

Self is joining the May Colors and Letters Challenge. More about it here.

The color for May 30 is Orange Red.

Self decided to take pictures from her front porch today. Well, the geraniums in the first picture look more pink, come to think of it. Oh well, they’re pretty, she’ll just leave them in.

More About Daddy, the Trump Supporter

Hugely enjoying Ayad Akhtar, let her tell ya. Self, too, is trying to understand the mystique of The Former Guy.

Here, Akhtar continues to try to de-construct his father’s support for DJT:

I think Father was looking for an image of just how much more his American self could contain than the Pakistani one he’d left behind. I think he wanted to know what the limits were. In America, you could have anything, right? Even the presidency? If an idiot like Trump could get hold of it, couldn’t you? Even if you didn’t want it? After all, the idiot apparently didn’t want it, either. He just wanted to know he could have it. Or maybe the emphasis there needs to shift: he wanted to know he could have it.

— p. 23, Homeland Elegies

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

Fortune Cookie of the Day

2016 Redux

Homeland Elegies brings self back to that time of innocence, pre-Former Guy, when we thought all he was good for was palaver.

Father: He’s not going to win . . . You’re smart enough to know that. He doesn’t even want to win. He’s trying to send a message.

Ayad Akhtar: I thought you said he was trying to start a channel.

Father: Same thing.

AA: He’s running for an election he doesn’t want to win so he can start a channel to send a message?

Father: The system is broken . . . I’m saying he won’t win, so you should calm down.

— pp. 18 – 19, Homeland Elegies

And then he did win.

Self still remembers how, on the evening of Election Day, she took Caltrain from Palo Alto to the City, and the packed train car was full of anxious buzz buzz buzz. She finally asked the young woman next to her what was going on.

The young woman said: “Trump’s winning. I’m scared.” The woman held up her cell. Polls on the East Coast had just closed, and the numbers were shocking.

The next morning, when self turned on her cell, the first message was: Your representation has changed. Then, a long long list of newly elected candidates ending with: The President of the United States: DT!

That night, the smell of pot was stronger than usual from the apartment above. Self remembers there were people hanging out on the fire escape, and she could distinctly hear their conversation: “Can you believe he WON? What’s going to happen NOW?”

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

Quote of the Day: University Art Center

Today, self accomplished one of the things on her bucket list:

To have a painting she made for art class in Grade 6 (convent school, Manila) FRAMED.

The fact that she lugged it to grad school, and through every move thereafter, is deserving of the most fulsome praise!

Her go-to place is University Art Center on El Camino. The framer stretches it out flat: “It’s very wrinkled.”

Self: “Umm, yeah. I made it in grade school.”

Framer: “So how many years are we talking about here?”

Self: “Fifty years?”

Framer: “FIFTY YEARS!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME???”

Self: “Uh, okay. Maybe not fifty. Forty?”

In the space on the form for “estimated value of the art” she writes, in big block letters: SENTIMENTAL VALUE. And underlines it twice.

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

Master Shih-Cheng Yen Still Thought #54

An idle man gains no pleasures, a busy man affords no time for disputes.

(This sounds like something I have read before, so maybe it doesn’t belong on Master Shih-Cheng Yen’s list? Better make sure I stay busy!)

Sentence of the Day? No, Sentence(s) of the Day!

Puerile pleasures, that’s what Father was learning again — we all were — and Trump was our tutor. I really can’t imagine that my father, this man I know and love, whom I still admire in so many ways, I can’t imagine he didn’t sense something was amiss. But somehow, he just kept looking the other way, seeking some worthwhile reason for the widespread abasement.

pp. 16 – 17, Homeland Elegies

If you want to laugh, dear blog readers, especially after seeing hashtag JoeIsaPedo trending, then Homeland Elegies is the book for you!