John Wick IV

Keanu, you are self’s forever and ever.

This installment of John Wick was almost three hours long, which she did not expect.

It is a paean to balletic fight moves.

Self had to leave just before the end. Was Keanu channeling Hamlet there.

Self has read some reviews which refer to Keanu as the Baba Yaga.

Umm, no. Keanu, unlike the Baba Yaga, is a man in search of his soul. He desires death. But he is human, therefore he never gets what he wants.

Death is not the answer, John Wick.

Son: Did he kill them all?

Is this a rhetorical question?

Looking back on this actor’s career, self think the best Keanu is action Keanu. He may have the blankest face, but he has moves.

It is known.

#amreading a Short Story by John Weir

If I kept going back to Armageddon, I thought, it would eventually turn out to have a plot. I saw it six times, and I never did. I was grateful; it was a relief to be spared the pain of cause/effect. Thank God for a plotless world. Watching the scene where Bruce Willis, draped in an American flag, says goodbye to earth from the floor of a crater in a huge piece of orbiting igneous rock was the most satisfying emotional experience I have ever had.

— “Neorealism at the Infiniplex,” in Your Nostalgia is Killing Me

Chase Andrews, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING

If you are planning to read the book or watch the movie, OF COURSE “SPOILERS”!

In the movie, he is played by young Brit Harris Dickinson.

But this was too abrupt — picnic, then mate the Marsh Girl. Even male birds woo the females for a while, flashing brilliant feathers, building bowers, staging magnificent dances and love songs. Yes, Chase had laid out a banquet, but she was worth more than fried chicken. And “Dixie” didn’t count as a love song. She should’ve known it would be like this. Only time male mammals hover is when they’re in the rut.

The silence grew as they stared at each other, broken only by the sound of their breathing and the breakers beyond. Chase sat up and reached for her arm, but she jerked it away.

“I’m sorry. It’s okay,” he said as he stood. True, he’d come here to snag her, to be the first, but watching those eyes firing, he was entranced.

He tried again. “C’mon, Kya. I said I’m sorry. Let’s just forget it. I’ll take you back to yo’ boat.”

At that she turned and walked across the sand toward the woods. Her long body swaying.

“What’re ya doin? You can’t walk back from here. It’s miles.”

But she was already in the trees, and ran a crow-route, first inland, then across the peninsula, toward her boat.

— Where the Crawdads Sing, pp. 161 – 162

Father’s Day 2022

Listening to Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine.

It is son’s FIRST FATHER’S DAY, WOO HOO! Where does the time go.

Jumbotron on Jefferson Avenue says: SEVERE DROUGHT. LIMIT WATERING TO TWO DAYS A WEEK.

This is why self does all her watering by hand. And only at 10 p.m.

This morning, she was at the 9:35 a.m. screening of Top Gun: Maverick at the local Century 20. There were lots of people. She got peeved when someone came in late and sat right next to her. She prefers to keep at least one empty seat between her and the next person. So she moved. We are still in a pandemic!

After the movie (Really great. What a good actor Miles Teller is. And Jennifer Connolly is fantastic and beautiful. How many people know that she was an undergrad at Stanford? She was a transfer from Yale), self drove to Menlo Park Library and checked out yet another Dr. Ruth Galloway mystery.

Went home, resumed reading The Chalk Pit, which might be her favorite of the entire series (14 books and counting). p. 267, Nelson interviews a local theater director in his flat. The same director who is staging an Alice in Wonderland play featuring an adult Alice tripped out on acid (The staging of this play is one of the biggest running gags in this book)

It is pushing midnight. A local woman’s gone missing. The woman just happens to be the partner of one of self’s favorite minor characters, DI David Clough.

“All the cast get on well. Cassie seems close to Adrian Linley, who plays the Caterpillar, her father in the play. Flora Frampton, who plays the Queen of Hearts, she mothers everybody, and Darrell Shaw . . . ” he pauses.

“Yes? What about Darrell Shaw?”

“He’s a young actor. Very talented. Plays the Gryphon, the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. I just have a feeling that he has rather a crush on Cassie.”

“Does she have a crush back?”

“No.” Leo sounds quite shocked. “She seems blissfully happy with that oafish policeman partner.” He stops. “Oh, I’m sorry . . . “

Nelson hangs on to his stiff upper lip. LOL LOL LOL

Waiting in some excitement for the Juneteenth concert at the Hollywood Bowl to begin. CNN is carrying it live.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

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.

Two Movies Back-to-Back

At the Century 20.

Self liked Voyagers more than Godzilla v. Kong.

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.

That is all.

Wakanda Forever

RIP, CHADWICK BOSEMAN

Damn. Damn. Damn.

He was just 43.

What is life.

Sentence of the Day: Abaddon’s Gate, p. 316

Help! Emergency! James Holden’s been captured by the Martians! And they are taking him to —

pp. 316 – 317:

• The luminescent surface irised closed behind them . . . The marine flipped him into a wall-mounted holding bar and strapped him in. “I’m out of air!” Holden screamed. “Please!”
  

They put HOLDEN into a wall-mounted holding bar???

Why does Holden keep getting into these situations? It’s pretty funny how things keep happening to him, book after book.

But then, he wouldn’t be James Holden if he didn’t keep getting into these scrapes. So, carry on, sir.

Stay safe, dear blog readers. Stay safe.

 

Language, Again

Leviathan Wakes, p. 482:

• “Dieu! Dieu!” someone shouted. “Bombs son vamen roja! Going to fry it! Fry us toda!”

Self truly thinks there is nothing that can make this book any better. Her favorite read in 2020 so far, for sure.

Book 2, Caliban’s War, which she ordered almost two weeks ago, never arrived. What the heck, she paid extra for shipping, Books Inc.

So she’ll move to the next book on her list: Outlander (She has so far avoided watching a single episode of the TV series; she might begin after reading the book)

Stay tuned.

2019 Hugo Awards Finalists, Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Annihilation, based on the novel by Jeff VanderMeer
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Black Panther
• A Quiet Place
• Sorry To Bother You
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse