Monday, September 28, 2009

Bright Star/directed Jane Campion



With a magnified needle piercing a piece of muslin.  we are instantly drawn into this sensuous movie.  I remember Campion's ability to startle all of my senses in The Piano, and with sudden twists of plot.  Here she is telling a story of love experienced by a great poet, John Keats.

I loved the clothes, the little girl with the cloud of red hair who played Fanny's little sister named Toots, the actor who played Browne, a perfect dog in the manger, the cat, the flowers, the butterflies, the way we get a taste of daily life in the early nineteenth century through the deliberate pacing of scenes, and finally I love the way the film sends you home to read Keats (or the letters of Fanny Brawne which prove that the film is very well sourced).

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Saw a girl that looked like her

She had long blondish hair
She was tall and thin
She carried herself in a way that said
I don't care what you think but I know that I might be worth looking at
When she bumped into someone by accident she said Oops sorry
She was wearing boots
A pair of jeans with holes in them
She was eighteen

Vermeer's The Milkmaid

We went to see the Vermeers amid crowds of others. The Milkmaid truly was the glory of the exhibit, looking as if lit from just outside the window.





Saturday, September 19, 2009

Julie and Julia

The movie shows how different, how much more solid, more soulful, and more generous, was Julia Child than Julie Powell.  Of course it is a tough comparison,  and I don't think Nora Ephron meant to belittle the more contemporary character (she is just one more cute slightly affectless girl like Meg Ryan played in Sleepless in Seattle and You've Got Mail) who was a blogger in search of herself instead of a woman in search of a better way of eating.  But how much more universal a goal! How much more heartening a story!  Nora Ephron, make more movies about women like these!

After the movie credits roll, what we search for is a recipe by Julia, not the blog by Julie.

Alas for Julie.  Hurrah for Julia!

Friday, September 11, 2009

ponyo


ponyo

A girl goldfish sees a human boy and is smitten. Determined to become human herself, she flees the strict rules of her father and hundreds of look alike siblings*, and finds that she has the power within herself to not only become human, but much else. The beauty of Miyazaki's animation comes from the hand made color saturated pictures, and the humorous movements of the protagonists. Ponyo once she determines she needs feet to be human, starts out with three toes like a chicken, and later gets a full set of five which liberate her to jump on couches etc.

Miyazaki's subject is saving the earth from the wickedness of humans' carelessness and waste.

*


Monday, September 7, 2009

making creme brulee

The ingredients are sugar and cream, lots of egg yolks, vanilla (and I used cinnamon). Like all custards, there is a hot water bath which challenges your ability to carry a heavy pan half filled with water, with little cups full of eggy mixture to the oven without spilling any of the water.

I got the recipe from Epicurious which does not carry the classic recipe without lemon, or coffee, or chocolate, or whatnot. This is typical of epicurious. They specialize in the rather showy trendy food fads, forcing you to strip away things in order to get a basic recipe.

Still, there is nothing more comforting than custard with a crust of caramelized sugar on top.

how to make creme brulee



photo from Flickr at
anne&ming

Saturday, September 5, 2009

September 5, 2009: Seasonal

Farmers Market, Tribeca

I love to buy fish at the greenmarket on Saturdays in Tribeca. There is always a line at Blue Moon fish because Alex Villani brings in such fresh spanish mackerel, scrod, scallops, you name it. Here you can see him talking at his stand which gives you an idea of his personality.



Alex Villani of Blue Moon

The apples are coming in after a few weeks of nectarines better than peaches. Honeycrisp is the name of an apple favored by my husband because they were discovered in his home state of Minnesota.



St. Luke's Garden was bathed in bright light today. After tanning on Elizabeth's bench, we looked at the flowers in blossom, and were struck by the bright pink flowers that look like lilacs in miniature but may be crape myrtle. It is tempting to go inside and visit the columbarium, but it is closed until services tomorrow.



photo by omoo

Friday, September 4, 2009

Why I Love Tennis

It's one on one, no teamwork required. Unlike beach volleyball or swimming
the women are able to show their curves without displaying so much flesh and you get to watch them move easily in their fitted outfits. It combines running and jumping and hitting
The Williams Sisters, one full of soul


the other fire and precision and competition


and of course there is Federer whose footwork
was compared with Fred Astaire's



It's the shock of Rafael Nadal's constantly picking at his underpants.



and Federer's mystique as the man who does not sweat, each attribute intimidating in its own way



but the love for the great competitors who can bring out the best in each other is very moving the longer the game lasts.

Roddick and Federer this year at Wimbledon.



Maria Sharapova and her sense of style and hauteur.
The way she lifts her nose as if she smells really good
when she makes a point.



(I do not like the loud noises she makes
when she hits the ball. Sounds like somebody having rough sex.)

Mostly I like the prospect of another Nadal Federer face-off, the most amazing event in sports I can remember. Like a perfect game in baseball. Rare and welcome.

Still Walking (Aruitemo Aruitemo) dir. Hirokazu Koreeda


Hirokazu Kore-Eda is a visual artist, but what stays with me are the beautiful lines he writes in his film about a wayward son who returns home to visit his aging parents one summer day with his wife and stepson. The movie is about living after the death of an important family member. The parents grow bitter, the siblings shift into their roles as not as good as might have been.

As all three generations of the family gather to honor the anniversary of the eldest son's death, the story unfolds with the humor and sorrow of a Chekhov play. Everyday actions, like preparing meals, are visually wonderful. You can almost smell the corn as the tempura is scooped out of the pan and into the eager mouths. The acting is flawless, particularly by Kirin Kiri who plays the mother, a woman who has mastered the art of spite.

Kore-eda is also the director of Afterlife, a sublime treatment of life after death.