Life, Etc.

I spent 2 hours at the hospital getting an infusion. My ancient blood needed fixing. Too little iron, too little energy. Luckily, this clinic in the hospital is like a spa. Comfy recliner or bed, warmed blankets, and engaging staff who all seem to be delighted to work there. Daughter came with me.

Not that I've been idle. Between unplanned bouts of sleep, I am editing. Interestingly, the only writer in the anthology who has, seriously, the worst writing, is the one nagging me to get my arse in gear and finish the damn thing. I finally broke and told her her work doesn't demand editing, but a total re-write of all her work. Needless to mention, she was annoyed. I am always truly amazed at how oblivious some are. I farmed out two of her pieces to two other writers as I was slowly losing my mind at the rewrites - painstaking, and also, I was slowly losing my will to live.

I was disappointed in the Oscars. One Battle After Another was a ho-hum thing, characters way underdrawn, more like caricatures, but if you're into lots of bangs and violence without purpose, go for it. Sinners was another flop in my mind. The first 2/3 engaged me, but the last moved into the vampire realm, which has never appealed. Suspending disbelief is never my forte, and I felt that the writers felt rushed and had to finish the whole thing in a hurry. I did like the soundtrack.

My favourite movie last year was "Train Dreams". I'm old-fashioned, perhaps, in my lifelong love of film. But this film hooked me from beginning to end. In all aspects. The cinematography is breathtaking, the acting and script superb.

A couple of pics for Sunday Selections:

The Indoor Garden.

I'm in love with this writer. Truly.

My local beach, 40 shades of blue, sparkling in winter.

Misogyny Thy Name Is Oscar

The incredibly talented actor - Quvenzhane Wallis


Sometimes the misogyny is so public as to take one's breath away. And I am so damn tired of it all. Fatigued and weary.

As you must be.

And I try to lie down and be quiet after I stew for a few days. Should I write here about it all and rage yet again. But to be silent is a worse offence. I am appalled at what other women write/say: Oh it's just a few jokes, stop taking it all so seriously. These women 'asked for it', yeah - that same tired old trope is tossed out - the one which justifies the rapes of 'sluts'. And it hurts to see other women write “I'm not a feminist”. So complicit or stupid in their own denigration. What the hell do they think feminism means unless it is solidarity with all women and men, past and present, who believe in equality for all? Yeah, so I rise up off the floor of despair and write about such contempt again. And the contempt from my own gender makes it so much more heartbreaking.

A 9 year old child was sexualized amidst laughter at the Oscars. 9 years old. I'll let that sink in. To add that she's a black nine year old with a little puppy purse and a smile of such utter childish delight on her lovely face is to make it far worse. And many interviewers couldn't bother to learn how to pronounce her name. And so she had to sit and listen and learn how to smile through all that shyte. That devaluing shyte about women. And herself. And then, and I'm not surprised at all, The Onion, a satirical paper I've always enjoyed, Twitters the little girl is a c**t. And I hope, seriously, she doesn't know about this.

And boobs were sung about. Boobs of a woman (Jodie Foster) in a movie who was being raped on a pool table. Boobs of other actors - side boobs, full boobs. To the snarfles and guffaws of most men watching no doubt, but to the discomfort, I hope, of some of 'their' women sitting beside them. Would this hilarious song have worked if it had been about men's junk? (and yes, I am aware of that other post-Oscar revenge song). But we're talking here about women actors' boobs and a global audience of half a billion, many of them impressionable boys forming their own feelings about women.

I see so much regression for women in the world today. Where a woman in Ireland is sacrificed to her own dying foetus. When Roe vs Wade is revisited constantly in the US. Where in Canada the (male) anti-choicers are allowed to ring the bells for precious zygotes in parliament once in a while to keep us women alert and on our toes. Where a bill in the US supporting The Violence Against Women Act scrapes through with 138 members voting AGAINST it. Where battered woman in Ireland are housed in JAIL because the shelters are all full. Over 2,000 of these women running for their lives from men who will kill them are housed in JAILS. Where the US (a first world country, ha) still has no paid maternity leave and women (often single mothers) earn 60c for every dollar a man earns doing the same work. Where women are raped with dismal regularity in the armed forces and told to shut up or they'll lose their jobs. Where same sex marriage and adoption rights are still up for debate. Where most rapes go unreported because of fear of the horrific process of law. Where there is yet to be a woman president in the US and they are so abysmally represented in the Congress and the Senate.

And I'm not even getting into the treatment of women in Africa, India and the so-called third world.

I feel I could go on for years and years and not get to the end of writing about this constant threat to the so very little we have already gained and the ongoiing wearisome quest for even basic equality.

As full human beings.

And not just body parts.

A previous post about feminism was written here.

Best Movies of 2011

I don't have television so there are no Oscars for me tonight apart from on the web. Maybe it is my age, maybe it is a deterioration in the overall quality of most movies but I view Oscar night now as a long drawn out yawn with too many commercials, a sycophantic host and self-congratulatory side bits which border on extreme narcissism.

I have a lifelong passion for the movies, going way back to when my uncle owned a cinema in a small town in East Cork and I got to see !!free!! every movie he showed. The A movie, the B movie, the newsreels, the cartoons and the serials on Saturday afternoons. I also have quite an enormous collection of movies. Some I never tire of watching.

One of my biggest disappointments of this past movie season was The Artist. I just don't get what all the fuss and hype was about. I found it melodramatic and cliched. And if that was the point, so what. Not a good point pour moi. A close runner up to FAIL would be Midnight in Paris, with an appalling Owen Wilson (attempting to channel a jaded Woody Allen) in the lead and featuring cardboard caricatures of the greatest literary figures in Paris as a supporting cast. Please. I was seriously offended.

On the other hand, I loved Monsieur Lazhar an amazing story of a Grade 6 class in Quebec whose teacher commits suicide. The child actors in it were brilliant. I also loved Beginners which starred Christopher Plummer as a widower coming out of the closet after 45 years of marriage. Hugo was a delight, loved loved loved Martin Scorsese's homage to movies through the ages and even caught his own (a la Alfred Hitchcock) cameo in it. The 3 D effects were incredible.

Tree of Life and Bridesmaids were also in the enjoyable lineup of movie pleasure for me this past year.

But overall a disappointing season but some of that can be blamed on the unavailability of good foreign film showings here in Newfoundland. To my mind, there is nothing like the big screen of a movie theatre for showing such treasures.