For today’s BRIGHT SQUARES Challenge, self took pictures at the Crocker Museum of Art in Sacramento! Which is just as fabulous as she remembered it being, all those years ago (Then, she was lucky enough to catch a Norman Rockwell retrospective)
(Left to Right):
Dale Chihuly (almost identical to the one that hangs in the lobby of London’s V & A)
Portrait of the playwright, screenwriter and diarist Christopher Isherwood, by Don Bachardy, American (born 1934). Isherwood wrote the 1964 novel A Simple Man; the movie adaptation won Colin Firth an Oscar.
Pacific Ocean, a painting by Jennifer Bartlett, American (born 1941)
What a great museum. Self is so happy she returned to Sacramento for this brief visit. If only the café had been open, she’d happily have lingered the whole day.
For lunch, she stopped at this small pop-up on 16th. The metal chairs had been baking in the sun, which she did not think mattered until she actually sat down. A lady who was sitting at the same table smirked and said, “That’s why I avoided sitting on those.” I took a chair that was sitting in the shade, a bit closer to the lady, and she immediately said, “I’ve had my two shots, don’t worry.”
The lady also told self that there was a “Chinse supermarket” not half a block from where we were sitting, and self got very excited at the thought of loading up on goodies for back home.
In addition to tacos, the pop-up also sold, somewhat improbably, mac’n cheese, and since it’s been forever since she’s had mac’n cheese, she decided to try it. It was good!
Although, Godzilla v. Kong was the first time in forever — mebbe the first time since Road Warrior‘s Feral Kid — that she didn’t find the kid in an action movie annoying, i.e. not just a gratuitous presence. And who knew Rebecca Hall would be good in an action movie? Well, she is. Not that she’s required to do any action scenes, really. But in this type of movie, character takes a back seat to . . . scenario. And she’s able to calibrate her performance so that it’s just the right temperature for this kind of movie.
I’m nervous about her coming to the party. So I’ll be extra polite, wear a clean shirt, and try not to set anything on fire.
— Ballistic Kiss, p. 19
Self is excited about this party the MC’s been referring to since opening pages. He’s even lining up movies for his guests: Face/Off, Con-Air (Movies self has watched more than once! Did self mention how excited she was for this party? Something big is sure to go down!)
Now, Solomon Northup is working for a crazy master named Epps. This part was adapted in the movie — in fact, the Epps scenes have lingered longest in self’s memory. Could also be because Lupita Nyong’o plays Patsey, the fastest cotton picker on the whole plantation — no, maybe in the whole American South. (The great Sarah Paulson played Mrs. Epps: she killed in the role)
This Epps liked to make his slaves dance, even after they’ve had a long day laboring in the fields. He wanted them to laugh. He wanted Northup to play the fiddle.
When in sight of the Bahamas Banks, at a place called Old Point Compass, or the Hole in the Wall, we were becalmed three days. There was scarcely a breath of air. The waters of the gulf presented a singularly white appearance, like lime water.
12 Years a Slave, by Solomon Northup, Chapter Five, p. 39
No commentary, just pictures that moved self as she looks back on the year ending. Most of the pictures are ones self took, except for: the still from Tenet; the still from The Expanse; the still from Black Panther; the ballet dancers in front of a Confederate monument (which she thinks is from AP)
Since the downtown Century 20 re-opened, self has seen four movies. The largest audience — 10 people — was for The New Mutants. The smallest — two people — for Yellow Rose. Here are the four, ranked:
Tenet
The New Mutants
Yellow Rose
Infidel
It is a real, real pleasure to see movies on a wide-screen. Self will keep going, as long as the Century 20 is open.
Self cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful it was to watch the changing expressions on the face of the movie’s lead, Eva Noblezada (24 playing almost 18 — she pulls it off). And to see that most iconic of Filipino characters — the long-suffering mother — acted with such conviction by Princess Punzalan! Plus, the love story is soooo sweet. Shy glances, low-key companionship. Sold!
The director was Diane Paragas, who also wrote the screenplay, from a story by Andy Bienen.
When she gave her ticket to the ticket guy, he looked down at the ticket and, as he handed it back to self, said, “Good movie.”
See, this is what self loves so much about Century 20: it’s more like a neighborhood movie theater than a multi-plex. The staff here were the ones who told her to see Jojo Rabbit, when she was trying to decide which of the 12 movies showing she should see. What other multi-plex would have staff recommending an indie movie. She rests her case.
Saw Infidel at the Century 20. If you don’t take it too seriously (Christian blogger goes to Egypt — to try and convert Muslims? — guess what happens to him), it is entertaining. It was her first Jim Caveziel movie in forever, and at first she didn’t recognize him. His hair’s gone light, and he’s heavier. She thinks the last movie she saw him in was the one where he played the son of Dennis Quaid. Frequency, she thinks it was.
Self has loved movies since she was a little girl, she and her Dear Departed Dad shared this passion and would go often. Even here, when he had to have part of a foot amputated (He had very advanced diabetes and a small wound on his foot developed gangrene) at UCSF Medical Center on Parnassus, self would take him to movies. He needed to keep his foot elevated; she’d put his foot on her lap (it had a cast).
Century 20 shut down in March, but finally opened again last week. Her first post-opening movie was Tenet. Whoa! Mind-blowing.
No telling how long Century 20 will remain open, she noticed there aren’t any first-run movies on the schedule for the entire month of October. So, wanting to commemorate maybe her last movie in a theater for a while, she took along her camera and took these pictures.
The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge was SYMMETRY. She thinks her pictures are a good example of Horizontal Symmetry.
There were only four other people in the entire theater with her, more than adequate social distancing!
