I tried to love "Gods and Monsters"—really, I did. It just didn't happen for me. I got bored with Ian McKellen and Brendan Fraser, both of whom I usually like very much. McKellen plays famously not-closeted gay movie director Jimmy Whale ("Frankenstein" etc.), and Fraser is his groundskeeper (but not lover). They strike up a platonic friendship, and ... well, that's about it. Many people have told me how much they liked this movie, but I found it under-written and over-acted. I didn't even watch it all the way through to the end. I apologize.
"Songcatcher," on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise. It tells the story of musicologist Lily Penleric, who goes to visit her sister in Appalachia around the turn of the (last) century and discovers a whole body of undiscovered folk music that is at the very heart of the community there. (She also discovers Aidan Quinn, amid much bodice-ripping.) My main problem with the movie was the lead actress, Janet McTeer, who just didn't do anything for me. Plus she was too tall. (Sorry, maybe it's because I'm not quite 5'3", but it looked like the Attack of the Giant Woman to me.) Moreover, her feminist views struck me as anachronistic. But, overall, it was an interesting story and, man, if you like old-timey music, get this in your Netflix queue fast. Beautiful. Iris Dement and Taj Mahal have bit parts in order to showcase their singing, and Emmy Rossum has a major role—I'd never heard of her, but her voice blew me away. Oh, and Emmylou sings during the credits (worth the price of admission, I'd say).
Just about a year ago, I explained my reasons for spelling my job title copyeditor instead of copy editor. I greatly prefer it as one word, but I do often feel that I'm in the minority. Job listings generally give it as two words, and I get the dreaded red squiggly line under the one-word version in my emails and Word documents. (Weirdly enough, Webster's Collegiate Dictionary—the dictionary I "learned on"—prefers two words for the noun copy editor but one word for the verb copyedit. Huh?)
As language evolves (and it does, so don't think you can stop it!), the oft-observed trend is that new compounds start off as separate words; then, as they become more familiar, they're hyphenated; and, finally, they're accepted enough that they become single words in their own right. For example, consider this evolution: cook book --> cook-book --> cookbook. Or foot ball --> foot-ball --> football. (I'm too lazy to check the etymology of those words, but they seem like likely candidates for that progression.) So I've already welcomed the final stage of evolution for copyeditor—and many others have, too, as you can see from the lively comments on this recent Language Log post. (Have I mentioned lately how much I love the Internet?)
I guess it's not surprising that the flu is making the rounds at camp. According to Steph's letters, more than a dozen kids have already been sent home! The camp newsletter says that any kid with a fever and flu-like symptoms has to go home and can't return until after 48 symptom-free hours, and then only with a doctor's note. Can you imagine? They've also suspended intercamp sports and activities.
Today we decided, a bit late, to hit the beach again. Yesterday we didn't get into Good Harbor and just barely got into Long Beach at about 12:30, and we figured that a Saturday would be even trickier. So we decided to try Crane Beach, which has a huge parking lot, and arrived just before noon. We got in no problem, but it was not nearly as much fun as Long Beach or Good Harbor, mainly because the water was icy and there were no waves. (And, as far as we could tell, they don't allow boogie boards anyhow, even if there was something to do with them.) Crane is a great beach for families with little kids—of which we saw many—but not so much for us. Don't get me wrong, a day at the beach is still a day at the beach, but it was very crowded and the water was no fun.
Finally, finally! A perfect day. Sunny, warm, breezy, and not even a hint of a cloud anywhere.
We were sure we wanted to head north to Good Harbor Beach and get fried clams at Woodman's, but in the past we've learned that timing is tricky. If you go to the beach mid-morning, as we like to do, you're not ready to leave by lunchtime—but it's really too long of a day in the sun to wait until dinnertime (and then you have rush-hour traffic to contend with on 128S—even worse on a Friday with all the Cape-bound folks). So today we tried something different. We left the house mid-morning and arrived at Woodman's just as they opened at 11am.
After scarfing down a huge, albeit early, lunch of fried-everything-in-sight, we headed over to Good Harbor. But, oh no! Not surprisingly, since this was the first nice day in ages, the parking lot was already closed to non-residents by the time we arrived. The parking lot dude directed us to Long Beach, about 1/2 mile up the road, so there we went.
And it was wonderful. It doesn't have facilities (bathroom, rinse-off showers, snack stand) on the beach like Good Harbor, but rather in the parking lot, and it's not quite as wide, but it was still wonderful. The weather was perfect. The waves were huge and frequent, and Pete and Julie boogie-boarded for hours—in between digging in the sand, looking for shells, and just plain hanging out. I love watching the two of them play together—it doesn't seem to matter what they're doing, they're just in sync. Moi, I read some Infinite Jest, dozed a little, ate some Fritos ... what else does one need?
Andy and I just got home from a long-overdue night out. First we had dinner at Solea, which we had not been to in a long time—so long, in fact, that we had no idea they had expanded it to more than double the size! It's gorgeous! There are many separate rooms (I kept trying to think of excuses to have a private party) and two bars. We had a nice selection of tapas, my favorites being Pato Braseado (roast duckling with berry sauce), Chorizo a la Plancha (grilled Spanish sausage), and Ravioles de Mariscos (lobster and crab ravioli). We had a nice bottle of Portuguese wine, a 2005 Tinta Roriz Blend, Casa Burmeister Reserva. And I learned something new: The Douro region of Portugal is right next to the Ribera del Duero region of Spain, which produces my favorite wines in all the world. The Duero River is just called the Douro River in Portugal—duh!
Then we went to see "Private Enemies," even though it didn't get great reviews. There really wasn't anything else interesting to see and, well, it did have Johnny Depp after all. [Swoon.] To quote Susan's friend, "The only thing better than Johnny Depp in a movie is Johnny Depp with a gun." He's just wonderful as a bad guy with a soft spot for his sweetheart, but the movie went on too long and all the other guys looked like each other. I couldn't keep track of anyone on either side. And Christian Bale does absolutely nothing for me. They sure wasted their money hiring him for this. Oh, and if there's a movie that used more rounds of ammunition than this one, I'd like to hear about it. So, if you like shoot-'em-ups and/or Johnny Depp, go for it—but don't feel bad if you end up waiting till it's on DVD.
Rabies: We've decided to get the fifth shot. I know in my heart I would insist we get it if it were more convenient, so that means we should get it regardless. Whenever I can't make up my mind, I imagine the worst-case scenario for each option. In this case:
1. We get the shots: Camp is totally disrupted for all three kids, and all five of us have bizarre reactions to the shots.
2. We don't get the shots: One (or more of us) dies.
Case closed.
Infinite Summer: Man, but I do love this. If you're playing along (or even if you're not), now's a good time to revisit this Onion piece: "Girlfriend Stops Reading David Foster Wallace Breakup Letter at Page 20." Also, don't miss this not-nearly-long-enough essay by the editor of Infinite Jest—yes, really, DFW's editor!
Yes, it's still raining here. Why do you ask?
And, finally, here are my three favorite tweets from today:
See? You should be following me.
Today was yet another rainy day. I feel so bad for Andy—the poor guy takes off exactly one week per year, and this is what he gets. The forecast's "best" day of the week keeps getting pushed back, but it's looking like Friday will be our beach day, unless yet another "storm system" moves in.
This afternoon Andy took Pete and Julie to see the latest "Ice Age" foolishness (speaking of which, did I show you this look at the difference between Dreamworks and Pixar?), while I moseyed on over to the Apple Store to pick up my brand-spanking-new iPhone 3GS! I'm sorry (you don't know how sorry!) to report that 3G service in my house is no better than Edge service—apparently I live in an AT&T-free zone—but I'm hoping that the signal will be better once I leave the house. I haven't played with it much, but it was very easy to sync everything from my old iPhone over to this one. And, speaking of the old one, I've switched it to "airplane mode" and plan to let the kids use it as an iPod Touch if we're ever on a long car ride or waiting for, say, a rabies shot. (I don't normally feel the need to keep my kids occupied every time they have to wait for something, but there's nothing wrong with a quick game of solitaire now and then, right?)
As I walked past Teavana on my way to the Apple Store, I studiously avoided meeting eyes with the lovely salesclerk who was handing out free samples, but I couldn't resist her siren call. Next thing I knew, I was buying a half pound of a mix of Samurai Chai Maté and White Ayurvedic Chai. It was almost as expensive as the iPhone. Oh, and get this: The great state of Massachusetts charged me sales tax on the full iPhone price of $600 even though I paid only $200 for it. Sheesh.
Today we dragged out of bed way too early and headed home, stopping off at camp to pick up Steph for Rabies Shot #4. We were so efficient that we had her back at camp, with bandaid on arm, by lunchtime. I felt bad that she had to miss her morning activities on the first sunny day in a good long while!
Later, when Andy and I went for our shots, we were faced with a dilemma. In a nutshell:
1. When we first went to get our shots, we were told that we needed the initial immuno-globulin thing in our butts, then a series of 5 shots in our arms to ward off rabies.
2. A few days later, my friend Sandy emailed me this article from the Wall Street Journal, which said in part:
Apparently they've been following tens of thousands of people who were known to be exposed to rabies (as opposed to us, who were only possibly exposed). Believe it or not, even in the face of known exposure and 100% fatality in the case of contracting rabies, some of these people still didn't get their full series of 5 shots. But it turns out that none of them died of rabies. It was thus determined that 4 shots is sufficient protection.
3. We mentioned this to the doctor at the Urgent Care Center when we had our #3 shots last week; she promised to check in with the head of Infectious Diseases.
4. We had a different doctor when we went back today, but he said that he spoke to the head of ID, and he now felt confident recommending only 4 shots. I asked if he himself would get only 4 shots, and he said yes.
But I'm still unsure. On the one hand, why not just get the 5th shot and be done with it? Well, for one thing, it is really disruptive to keep having to take Steph out of sleepaway camp for these shots, and the next one falls on the day after Visiting Day, so they said we'd really need to keep her out overnight. She is loving camp so much, and I just hate to keep messing it up for her. Also, Pete starts a new day camp that day, and Julie will be in day camp also. It's a major pain logistically! It's also not cheap—and not painless either. And today when we went, we had to sit in a waiting room containing about a dozen people in surgical masks with god-knows-what symptoms. Who needs that?
So I am torn. I have emails in to two people I know who are ER doctors, so I'll see if they can shed any light. I have a feeling that 6 months from now, it'll be a no-brainer, but we are right on the cusp of this new protocol.
1. Today was a gorgeous day, weather-wise; unfortunately, shortly after feasting at Polly's Pancake Parlor, I found myself balled up on the couch with cramps like my worst enemy shouldn't know. Andy and Julie went canoeing at Echo Lake; Pete didn't feel like going anyhow. Tomorrow in the (very early) morning we'll pick up Steph at camp for Rabies Shot #4 and then head home. And did I mention that Andy's off all week?
2. A few nights ago I had a dream in which I told a joke (funny in the dream, stupid in real life) that had the punchline "Mrs. Howell" (you know, from "Gilligan's Island"). A couple of days later, I was reading Infinite Jest and came across a reference to a yachting cap of the style worn by Mr. Howell. I would say that up until this time, I had last thought or heard of the Howells in the late '70s. Similarly, yesterday Andy was trying to think of the word suborning, and within a few hours I came across it in IJ. I mean, I know that the book is 1079 pages long and contains probably more different English words than any other novel I'm ever likely to read, but still, what're the odds?
3. Speaking of which, I'm just loving Infinite Jest. It's still not too late to join the rest of us for the Infinite Summer—I got a late start and am already ahead of the assigned page count. I was told that the first 200 pages were the hardest going, but I haven't had a problem yet and am already 250 pages in. (Yes, I realize that's only 25% along, but I no longer have the howling fantods about being able to get through it.)
4. Twice since upgrading to Firefox 3.5 last week I have shut down my Mac, replied "Yes" when asked whether I want to keep all my open tabs, and then been horrified to discover upon rebooting that they're all gone. And no, I don't usually keep my history available (although now I will, at least until this problem is resolved). I lost and have no recollection of several job leads, interesting recipes, and more. Phooey.