Showing posts with label merchant ivory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label merchant ivory. Show all posts
04 May 2020
Another Country (1984)
03 November 2013
Before Midnight
I am so glad that Linklater/Delpy/Hawke keep making these Before movies.
When I saw Before Sunset in 2005 (I actually have the review I wrote back then), I was blown away by how much I thought the movie was about me, how much the two characters seemed to be articulating so many of my own struggles – and even more: that they seemed able really to get at how I felt about the things with which I was struggling.
Jesse and Céline are older than I am now, and Before Midnight is a much different film than either of the previous movies. For starters, there are a lot more people in this movie. The film begins with Jesse and his son walking around the airport and talking. As invested as I am in the father-son relationship, you can be sure my eyes had already filled with tears five minutes into the film. We get to spend some more time with Jesse and Céline after this, and they talk about almost everything other than their relationship with one another: work problems, issues with the kids, scheduling, dinner. It's mundane, but doesn't feel stifling or heavy in any way. These are the things we do. These are the ways we fill our lives.
And it is hard to be alone with one another when you're in your forties and have three children. And friends. And work. And a life. A conversation by yourselves walking through a Greek village? Who has time for that? This is precious alone-time – time couples with kids don't actually have.
The centerpiece of Before Midnight is an afternoon dinner conversation with a group of couples. They talk about gender, they talk about love, about penises and the value of coupling. Marriage as such doesn't really come up. In other words, this is about being together. Even when we're talking about gender we're talking about how we manage to stay with someone, what it means to give up enough of oneself to make a relationship work.
Jesse and Céline have given up a lot to be together. And this opened up space for primal doubts. What do these people still want from life? What do they still want from each other? And what does it mean to be in love? What is that? And what of sacrifice? What is its value when weighed beside the other things that one gets from one's lover?
Before Midnight deals with these questions exquisitely. If it is a talky film – and all three of these films are – it also has more than a few gorgeous moments of cinematic poetry, where the film seems to pause. We sit and watch the sunset for a moment, breathe together and wait, and it seems to me that in little pauses like that, sometimes something has a chance to open.
This is, in many ways, a deeply unsettling film, attempting to deal with some very difficult problems of love and relationships. I absolutely loved it, but I also felt a little off-kilter the rest of the evening, as though I'd been asked to solve some really difficult puzzles and hadn't quite succeeded.
Oh, and one more thing: Look for Academy-Award-winning cinematographer Walter Lassally as an old mentor in the film. Lassally has never been credited for acting in a movie before now, but he shot Michael Cacoyannis's Zorba the Greek and Tony Richardson's Tom Jones in the '60s, as well as being one of Merchant-Ivory's regular cinematographers for twenty years – from Savages in 1972 through to The Ballad of the Sad Café in 1991.
When I saw Before Sunset in 2005 (I actually have the review I wrote back then), I was blown away by how much I thought the movie was about me, how much the two characters seemed to be articulating so many of my own struggles – and even more: that they seemed able really to get at how I felt about the things with which I was struggling.
And it is hard to be alone with one another when you're in your forties and have three children. And friends. And work. And a life. A conversation by yourselves walking through a Greek village? Who has time for that? This is precious alone-time – time couples with kids don't actually have.
The centerpiece of Before Midnight is an afternoon dinner conversation with a group of couples. They talk about gender, they talk about love, about penises and the value of coupling. Marriage as such doesn't really come up. In other words, this is about being together. Even when we're talking about gender we're talking about how we manage to stay with someone, what it means to give up enough of oneself to make a relationship work.
Jesse and Céline have given up a lot to be together. And this opened up space for primal doubts. What do these people still want from life? What do they still want from each other? And what does it mean to be in love? What is that? And what of sacrifice? What is its value when weighed beside the other things that one gets from one's lover?
Before Midnight deals with these questions exquisitely. If it is a talky film – and all three of these films are – it also has more than a few gorgeous moments of cinematic poetry, where the film seems to pause. We sit and watch the sunset for a moment, breathe together and wait, and it seems to me that in little pauses like that, sometimes something has a chance to open.
This is, in many ways, a deeply unsettling film, attempting to deal with some very difficult problems of love and relationships. I absolutely loved it, but I also felt a little off-kilter the rest of the evening, as though I'd been asked to solve some really difficult puzzles and hadn't quite succeeded.
Oh, and one more thing: Look for Academy-Award-winning cinematographer Walter Lassally as an old mentor in the film. Lassally has never been credited for acting in a movie before now, but he shot Michael Cacoyannis's Zorba the Greek and Tony Richardson's Tom Jones in the '60s, as well as being one of Merchant-Ivory's regular cinematographers for twenty years – from Savages in 1972 through to The Ballad of the Sad Café in 1991.
23 August 2007
Mercury
Another slightly uneven film from 1971 that was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. This time, the movie is from Britain and was written by Harold Pinter. Today's film is called The Go-Between and is based on the novel of the same name by L.P. Hartley.
The film stars Julie Christie (slightly miscast and with nothing to do) and Alan Bates (as good-looking as I think I've ever seen him), and concerns a young lower-class boy transplanted to an upper class manor for the summer. The boy becomes a letter-carrier between Christie and Bates, who are carrying on a secret affair. The film is full of nostalgia and symbolism and is told from the perspective of the boy after he has reached middle age and can look back on the story with forty-five or fifty years of perspective.
The film's best performance is from Julie Christie's mother in the film, played by Margaret Leighton. It was she who received the film's single nomination from the Academy, and it is a well-deserved nomination and a chilling, rather fabulous performance of great skill.
This is a fairly good film, although as I said, it is slightly uneven. The direction is rather strange. Pinter's dialogue is, of course, distancing and cold, leaving lots of room for interpretation and getting nuanced performances from the actors. But the director shoots almost everything in long shots, an odd choice for a film concerned with nostalgia and memory. The distance works in the dialogue, but the camera's distance gives the film a less immediate feel.
This film was made in 1970, but as I was watching The Go-Between, I kept thinking what James Ivory might have done with this book somewhere around the late eighties or early nineties. He would have focused much more on the class issues of course, and I think the film would have had a richer, subtler quality that The Go-Between rather lacks. Still, it is a good film, and there really is no reason in the world the film hasn't been released on DVD. Perhaps those long shots would have made more sense in widescreen.
The film stars Julie Christie (slightly miscast and with nothing to do) and Alan Bates (as good-looking as I think I've ever seen him), and concerns a young lower-class boy transplanted to an upper class manor for the summer. The boy becomes a letter-carrier between Christie and Bates, who are carrying on a secret affair. The film is full of nostalgia and symbolism and is told from the perspective of the boy after he has reached middle age and can look back on the story with forty-five or fifty years of perspective.
The film's best performance is from Julie Christie's mother in the film, played by Margaret Leighton. It was she who received the film's single nomination from the Academy, and it is a well-deserved nomination and a chilling, rather fabulous performance of great skill.
This is a fairly good film, although as I said, it is slightly uneven. The direction is rather strange. Pinter's dialogue is, of course, distancing and cold, leaving lots of room for interpretation and getting nuanced performances from the actors. But the director shoots almost everything in long shots, an odd choice for a film concerned with nostalgia and memory. The distance works in the dialogue, but the camera's distance gives the film a less immediate feel.
This film was made in 1970, but as I was watching The Go-Between, I kept thinking what James Ivory might have done with this book somewhere around the late eighties or early nineties. He would have focused much more on the class issues of course, and I think the film would have had a richer, subtler quality that The Go-Between rather lacks. Still, it is a good film, and there really is no reason in the world the film hasn't been released on DVD. Perhaps those long shots would have made more sense in widescreen.
01 May 2007
James Ivory Double Feature
Last week, Julie and I watched James Ivory's The Wild Party. Julie, for her Musical Theatre History class had to come up with a syllabus for a course she was teaching. One of the class sessions was supposed to surround Michael John LaChiusa's Broadway musical The Wild Party (not to be confused with Andrew Lippa's off-Broadway The Wild Party from the same year). At any rate, the musical is based on a well-known 1928 poem by Joseph Moncure March, and as Julie and I discussed the show, I mentioned that Merchant-Ivory had made a film based on the poem in 1975. We decided we should see the film as research for the course she was designing (for me it was just an excuse to buy another James Ivory movie), so we took a break from all of our work and watched.
The Wild Party stars James Coco and Raquel Welch, but despite the poem's cleverness (and ribaldry), Ivory's film is incredibly, almost unbelievably dull. It has a lot of Ivory trademarks. There is some nice subtlety at times, and there are a few cool sequences. Coco stars as a fading comic buffoon of a film star. He's no longer famous, and he insists on making silent pictures, even though it's 1928 and hardly anyone is making silent pictures anymore. The silent film-within-the-film is very fun, and also quite cleverly done. There is also a fairly cool orgy sequence (more tame than it ought to have been, but still—) and one or two nice musical numbers (the film is a musical, though I don't think it wants to be). Mostly, though, it's boring, and sometimes Ivory's ideas about what is beautiful are off the mark. He has the ability to see beauty in things that will not strike other people as beautiful, I think. Sometimes, this strikes me as revelatory, but often (at least in his 1970s films, his ideas of beauty strike me as strange and uninteresting).
Bombay Talkie is one of Ivory's earlier Indian films. It stars the gorgeous Sashi Kapoor, his wife Jennifer Kendal, and the beautiful Aparna Sen. This movie is cute, and cleverly done. The opening credits sequence is very, very cool (actually, Wild Party's opening credits are really cool, too). Bombay Talkie is a kind of histrionic melodrama, with a plot similar to a traditional Bollywood musical from the period, with a lot of fun conventions. It is also a story about white privilege and silliness. I quite liked the film, but like most of Ivory's work, I begin to like it even more the further away from it I get. By next week, I'll probably be deeply attached to the movie. Ivory clearly knows what he's doing, and the Merchant-Ivory team is one of the cleverest. Bombay Talkie is an experiment, though, more than it is anything else. The plot is loose and silly, and flecked with melodramatic nonsense. Kapoor is beautiful, and there are quite a few nice things about the film, but I'm not sure it has anything really interesting to say.
The Wild Party stars James Coco and Raquel Welch, but despite the poem's cleverness (and ribaldry), Ivory's film is incredibly, almost unbelievably dull. It has a lot of Ivory trademarks. There is some nice subtlety at times, and there are a few cool sequences. Coco stars as a fading comic buffoon of a film star. He's no longer famous, and he insists on making silent pictures, even though it's 1928 and hardly anyone is making silent pictures anymore. The silent film-within-the-film is very fun, and also quite cleverly done. There is also a fairly cool orgy sequence (more tame than it ought to have been, but still—) and one or two nice musical numbers (the film is a musical, though I don't think it wants to be). Mostly, though, it's boring, and sometimes Ivory's ideas about what is beautiful are off the mark. He has the ability to see beauty in things that will not strike other people as beautiful, I think. Sometimes, this strikes me as revelatory, but often (at least in his 1970s films, his ideas of beauty strike me as strange and uninteresting).
Bombay Talkie is one of Ivory's earlier Indian films. It stars the gorgeous Sashi Kapoor, his wife Jennifer Kendal, and the beautiful Aparna Sen. This movie is cute, and cleverly done. The opening credits sequence is very, very cool (actually, Wild Party's opening credits are really cool, too). Bombay Talkie is a kind of histrionic melodrama, with a plot similar to a traditional Bollywood musical from the period, with a lot of fun conventions. It is also a story about white privilege and silliness. I quite liked the film, but like most of Ivory's work, I begin to like it even more the further away from it I get. By next week, I'll probably be deeply attached to the movie. Ivory clearly knows what he's doing, and the Merchant-Ivory team is one of the cleverest. Bombay Talkie is an experiment, though, more than it is anything else. The plot is loose and silly, and flecked with melodramatic nonsense. Kapoor is beautiful, and there are quite a few nice things about the film, but I'm not sure it has anything really interesting to say.
06 April 2006
The World of Apu
Cut out my heart. Satyajit Ray's The World of Apu is the third part of his Apu Trilogy, and I finally watched it this evening. (I watched Part Two on 2/11/06, i.e. a long-ass time ago.) Satyajit Ray is a brilliant man, I've decided. I mean, I guess the world doesn't really need me to add my praise to the loads of adulation he has received as a filmmaker, but this movie (and the trilogy as a whole) is so uncompromising and powerful. I'm too tired to really talk about this, and the movies are kind of draining because they are so effective and heartfelt, but I did finally finish this masterwork and I feel profoundly effected by Ray's storytelling and vision.
The films are in Bengali and have been restored through the efforts of The Merchant and Ivory Foundation as well as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. The picture on the DVD's is still quite grainy and the image sometimes jumps. The movies are totally worth the sub-par picture quality, and I gather getting images even this clear was quite the ordeal for the restoration team. If you haven't seen Part One of this trilogy (Pather Panchali) you ought to add it to your Netflix queue tout suite.
The films are in Bengali and have been restored through the efforts of The Merchant and Ivory Foundation as well as the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. The picture on the DVD's is still quite grainy and the image sometimes jumps. The movies are totally worth the sub-par picture quality, and I gather getting images even this clear was quite the ordeal for the restoration team. If you haven't seen Part One of this trilogy (Pather Panchali) you ought to add it to your Netflix queue tout suite.
02 January 2006
Holiday
I haven't been to work in what seems like forever. I haven't been sleeping in my own bed, either, though all will go back to normal tomorrow morning when I wake up for work. I was in Monument, Colorado for Christmas where it didn't snow at all--though it was fucking freezing cold, and I was in Big Bear Lake, California for New Year's Eve where it snowed on the way out of town (luckily). I had never seen it snow before.
The sun is out here, now, after days of gloom and rain. I might even go visit my friend up in Valencia this afternoon. (A cloud just covered the sun.)
Back from Colorado, I have been watching movies like mad... making up for lost time. I'm behind in my viewing now: this is what I get for missing a week of movie-watching. I watched only one movie in Colorado, and that one was from 1951. (If you haven't seen Royal Wedding, Astaire dances on the ceiling, Jane Powell performs brilliantly in a New York-style dance number, and Peter Lawford looks extremely cute, but it doesn't have much else going for it.)
Capsule reviews of the movies I've seen since my return from CO:
The White Countess I found kind of disappointing. Like all Merchant-Ivory pictures, I suppose it will improve with more viewings, but this film has a few troubles: mostly script problems. It looks gorgeous and is quietly moving, like most of Ivory's films, but it isn't quite as subtle as it ought to be. Madeleine Potter gives a superior performance.
Crash is all about racism. Racism, racism, racism. Everyone, in case you were unaware, is racist, and justice, in case you were confused, is impossible to achieve. The best scene in the film is a scene between good cop Ryan Philippe and hopelessly corrupt cop Keith David, where the older, black officer and the young idealist white officer conspire to keep bigoted officer Matt Dillon in a position of power. This film is irresponsible and silly, not to mention unapologetically sympathetic to a whole cadre of odious, unsympathetic characters.
Casanova is unabashedly silly and totally fun. It loses its initial cleverness about halfway through, but remains somewhat witty. The whole thing is ridiculous, but I thought it was fun. Plus I'm in love with Heath Ledger now. (There isn't anywhere near the amount of nudity there ought to have been in the picture, unfortunately.)
Transamerica sucked. It could've been a good road picture and it could have been a poignant father-son saga. It's neither. Felicity Huffman is occasionally believable as a transgender woman, but this film is terrible. The script is a total mess. None of the characters' motives make the least bit of sense and the non-resolution is utterly ludicrous. Fionnula Flanagan is terrible beyond words as Bree's scenery-chewing mother.
The Ballad of Jack and Rose is an exquisite little gem of a film about late-sixties idealism and the legacy this movement passed on to its children. Camilla Belle is extraordinary, Catherine Keener does her usual superb and dependable supporting work and Daniel Day-Lewis gives a raw, heartbreaking performance. The photography is breathtaking. It's a wonderful portrait of an idyll in turmoil and (perhaps) the end of an era. I liked it enormously.
Still in the Netflix queue from 2005:
The Beautiful Country, Tropical Malady, Yes, Kings and Queen, Hustle & Flow, My Summer of Love, Saraband, Happy Endings, The Girl from Monday, 5X2, Head-on, Fear and Trembling, War of the Worlds
Still to see in theatres from 2005 (i.e. call me if you want to catch a flick one night this week, as I will be going to see one every night):
Munich, Match Point, Caché, The New World, The Producers, The Libertine
XO
Happy New Year
Aaron
The sun is out here, now, after days of gloom and rain. I might even go visit my friend up in Valencia this afternoon. (A cloud just covered the sun.)
Back from Colorado, I have been watching movies like mad... making up for lost time. I'm behind in my viewing now: this is what I get for missing a week of movie-watching. I watched only one movie in Colorado, and that one was from 1951. (If you haven't seen Royal Wedding, Astaire dances on the ceiling, Jane Powell performs brilliantly in a New York-style dance number, and Peter Lawford looks extremely cute, but it doesn't have much else going for it.)
Capsule reviews of the movies I've seen since my return from CO:
The White Countess I found kind of disappointing. Like all Merchant-Ivory pictures, I suppose it will improve with more viewings, but this film has a few troubles: mostly script problems. It looks gorgeous and is quietly moving, like most of Ivory's films, but it isn't quite as subtle as it ought to be. Madeleine Potter gives a superior performance.
Crash is all about racism. Racism, racism, racism. Everyone, in case you were unaware, is racist, and justice, in case you were confused, is impossible to achieve. The best scene in the film is a scene between good cop Ryan Philippe and hopelessly corrupt cop Keith David, where the older, black officer and the young idealist white officer conspire to keep bigoted officer Matt Dillon in a position of power. This film is irresponsible and silly, not to mention unapologetically sympathetic to a whole cadre of odious, unsympathetic characters.
Casanova is unabashedly silly and totally fun. It loses its initial cleverness about halfway through, but remains somewhat witty. The whole thing is ridiculous, but I thought it was fun. Plus I'm in love with Heath Ledger now. (There isn't anywhere near the amount of nudity there ought to have been in the picture, unfortunately.)
Transamerica sucked. It could've been a good road picture and it could have been a poignant father-son saga. It's neither. Felicity Huffman is occasionally believable as a transgender woman, but this film is terrible. The script is a total mess. None of the characters' motives make the least bit of sense and the non-resolution is utterly ludicrous. Fionnula Flanagan is terrible beyond words as Bree's scenery-chewing mother.
The Ballad of Jack and Rose is an exquisite little gem of a film about late-sixties idealism and the legacy this movement passed on to its children. Camilla Belle is extraordinary, Catherine Keener does her usual superb and dependable supporting work and Daniel Day-Lewis gives a raw, heartbreaking performance. The photography is breathtaking. It's a wonderful portrait of an idyll in turmoil and (perhaps) the end of an era. I liked it enormously.
Still in the Netflix queue from 2005:
The Beautiful Country, Tropical Malady, Yes, Kings and Queen, Hustle & Flow, My Summer of Love, Saraband, Happy Endings, The Girl from Monday, 5X2, Head-on, Fear and Trembling, War of the Worlds
Still to see in theatres from 2005 (i.e. call me if you want to catch a flick one night this week, as I will be going to see one every night):
Munich, Match Point, Caché, The New World, The Producers, The Libertine
XO
Happy New Year
Aaron
17 September 2005
Car Trauma Resolved... for the Moment
I was up before dawn this morning and by 7:15 I was waiting in line at the California Department of Motor Vehicles. I was expecting it to be a little like the pictures of lines in the old Communist Soviet Union: you know, people standing in line at government offices for various things that they need. But it was actually quite organized. Everyone stands in the same line, and then a guy behind bulletproof glass sorts the people and tells you what forms you need and gives you a letter and a number. The letter is to tell the people helping you what you need and the number is what order you are in. It's all quite detailed. And then they told me to sit and wait for my number to be called. I had to shell out $20.00 for the new license and I had to get my picture taken, but the DMV opened at 8:00a and I was home by 8:35. The rental car place didn't even open until 9:00a!
Enterprise fitted me with what looks like a brand-spankin'-new Chevy Cobalt (it replaced the Cavalier, so I am told, and is much nicer-looking than the Cavalier, which I always thought was trying to look like a miniature flying saucer.) Anyway, the Cobalt (oddly, a white vehicle) is a much better car than that Pontiac Sunfire thing rental car places usually give me.
The Autobody shop doesn't know how long it will take to fix the car, but I don't much care anymore. I have a rental! Hooray! And all before 10:00a.
And, now that I have time to work on Hard Times, do I? Oh no. I decide, instead to watch all of the extra features on my DVD of Howards End. I might be returning to my Merchant Ivory obsession.
Is anyone else in love with this song from Grizzly Man by Don Edwards? It's called "Coyotes" and I'm all about it.
Enterprise fitted me with what looks like a brand-spankin'-new Chevy Cobalt (it replaced the Cavalier, so I am told, and is much nicer-looking than the Cavalier, which I always thought was trying to look like a miniature flying saucer.) Anyway, the Cobalt (oddly, a white vehicle) is a much better car than that Pontiac Sunfire thing rental car places usually give me.
The Autobody shop doesn't know how long it will take to fix the car, but I don't much care anymore. I have a rental! Hooray! And all before 10:00a.
And, now that I have time to work on Hard Times, do I? Oh no. I decide, instead to watch all of the extra features on my DVD of Howards End. I might be returning to my Merchant Ivory obsession.
Is anyone else in love with this song from Grizzly Man by Don Edwards? It's called "Coyotes" and I'm all about it.
28 August 2005
Howards End Pt. 2
I was more tired than I can remember feeling in a long time. So I finished Howards End tonight. I had forgotten how much I love it.
I always think of Allan when I see a European film like this with beautiful costumes and managed emotions laying just under sleek surfaces. I seem to recall him saying, "If I want to look at a painting, I will." I was probably praising Fanny and Alexander at the time. It makes me smile to think of it, but honestly, if I were to direct films, I think the films of James Ivory (and to a slightly lesser degree Ingmar Bergman) would be the kinds of films I would direct.
That is, Allan, films you would never watch. Good thing it is you who will be the film director.
I always think of Allan when I see a European film like this with beautiful costumes and managed emotions laying just under sleek surfaces. I seem to recall him saying, "If I want to look at a painting, I will." I was probably praising Fanny and Alexander at the time. It makes me smile to think of it, but honestly, if I were to direct films, I think the films of James Ivory (and to a slightly lesser degree Ingmar Bergman) would be the kinds of films I would direct.
That is, Allan, films you would never watch. Good thing it is you who will be the film director.
27 August 2005
James Ivory Is My Hero
Popped Howards End in the DVD player for a bit and it made me happier than I've been in a while. Or maybe I'm just in a generally good mood. That movie is so beautiful.
31 July 2005
Song of the Little Road
I don't know how y'all feel about Indian cinema, but I, being a sucker for the films of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant, had to check out one of their favorite films when I heard it was on DVD. Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali is the story of a Brahmin family living in Bengal. It was released in India in 1955. The photography (by Subrata Mitra, who later worked on all of Merchant-Ivory's Indian films) is incredible, the story is beautiful and haunting, the delicate score is by Ravi Shankar, and the direction is immaculate. It's unbelievable that this was anyone's first film. If you are into Indian cinema, check this one out.
28 May 2005
Cinemania
Lately I've felt, again, a desire to watch (or rather to listen to) audio commentaries on DVD's. Perhaps I am becoming interested in filmmaking itself or maybe I am more broadly fascinated by the artistic processes of other people. Filmmaking, especially, seems to me to be something requiring collaboration, but it also seems to be a medium where success and vision are things that actually can be achieved.
I have been obsessed with Merchant Ivory lately, as I have said, and so I have been watching everything I can on the Merchant Ivory DVD's I've been getting. The Criterion Collection has released 18 of their films under something they've called The Merchant Ivory Collection, and these DVD's look great and have some nice extras on them: most notably interviews with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Ismail Merchant and James Ivory (and usually Richard Robbins as well). Very few have commentaries, but they all have these interviews as well as short films from the period or in the same vein. And I've been watching all the extras on these DVD's.
Last week I came home from work and watched The Householder, several interviews about The Householder and then I watched Merchant's first film The Creation of Woman and Ivory's second short The Sword and the Flute. By that time it was so late I had to go to bed.
Then the other day I finished watching Down by Law and noticed there was a Jarmusch interview on the DVD, so I just started listening to it. An hour had gone by before I snapped out of it.
I borrowed Heat and Dust from my boss the other day and I still haven't returned it because (unlike most of The Merchant Ivory Collection) this one has a commentary with Merchant, Greta Scacchi and Nickolas Grace. So I haven't given it back because I just have to watch it. (Obsession, remember.)
And then this morning, as is my usual custom on Saturdays, I watched a film: Paul Mazursky's first feature Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. It's really great and very Sixties and I am so interested in the making of it and so I turned on the commentary, which features Mazursky and Robert Culp and Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon. I started listening to it and then I just had to stop. I can't do it.
There are too many films to see. If I am going to commit to re-watching a film, I definitely want to listen to the commentary, but there are so many films I still haven't seen at all (For instance, I have Fellini's 8 1/2 and David Gordon Green's Undertow at the house right now, just waiting for me) and I need to watch those... not to mention all of the other films from decades past that I still haven't seen. I just can't justify re-watching a movie, no matter how good. There is too much I still need to see.
I have been obsessed with Merchant Ivory lately, as I have said, and so I have been watching everything I can on the Merchant Ivory DVD's I've been getting. The Criterion Collection has released 18 of their films under something they've called The Merchant Ivory Collection, and these DVD's look great and have some nice extras on them: most notably interviews with Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Ismail Merchant and James Ivory (and usually Richard Robbins as well). Very few have commentaries, but they all have these interviews as well as short films from the period or in the same vein. And I've been watching all the extras on these DVD's.
Last week I came home from work and watched The Householder, several interviews about The Householder and then I watched Merchant's first film The Creation of Woman and Ivory's second short The Sword and the Flute. By that time it was so late I had to go to bed.
Then the other day I finished watching Down by Law and noticed there was a Jarmusch interview on the DVD, so I just started listening to it. An hour had gone by before I snapped out of it.
I borrowed Heat and Dust from my boss the other day and I still haven't returned it because (unlike most of The Merchant Ivory Collection) this one has a commentary with Merchant, Greta Scacchi and Nickolas Grace. So I haven't given it back because I just have to watch it. (Obsession, remember.)
And then this morning, as is my usual custom on Saturdays, I watched a film: Paul Mazursky's first feature Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. It's really great and very Sixties and I am so interested in the making of it and so I turned on the commentary, which features Mazursky and Robert Culp and Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon. I started listening to it and then I just had to stop. I can't do it.
There are too many films to see. If I am going to commit to re-watching a film, I definitely want to listen to the commentary, but there are so many films I still haven't seen at all (For instance, I have Fellini's 8 1/2 and David Gordon Green's Undertow at the house right now, just waiting for me) and I need to watch those... not to mention all of the other films from decades past that I still haven't seen. I just can't justify re-watching a movie, no matter how good. There is too much I still need to see.
26 May 2005
I Feel Like I Just Got Punched in the Gut
Filmmaker Ismail Merchant, 68, passed away at 4.30 pm on Wednesday at a hospital in London, surrounded by friends and family. He was unmarried, and had no children.
His brother-in-law Waheed Chauhan told rediff.com that Merchant's ulcer burst, causing his death. Merchant had recently undergone surgery for abdominal ulcers. "His body will be brought to Mumbai in about two days for the cremation," Chauhan added.
'It is with great sadness that Merchant Ivory Productions announces that Ismail Merchant, our company founder and beloved producer for more than 44 years, has passed away after a brief illness in a London hospital where he was working on his latest film, The White Countess,' a note on the Merchant Ivory Productions Web site said. Merchant co-founded the company with filmmaker James Ivory.
Merchant was born in Mumbai on Christmas Day in 1936. When he was 22, he traveled to the US to study business at New York University, but was soon sidetracked into the film world.
Merchant's first film was The Creation of Woman, which was an official US entry in the Cannes Film Festival in 1961. The short film also earned an Academy Award nomination that year.
It was en route to Cannes that Merchant met filmmaker Ivory. The stated objective of Merchant Ivory Productions was to make 'English-language films in India aimed at the international market'.
In 1963, MIP premiered its first production, The Householder, starring Bollywood matinee idol Shashi Kapoor.
Merchant and Ivory, in tandem with screenwriter Ruth Prawer-Jhabvala, made close to 40 films together. They won Oscars for such efforts as the adaptation of E M Forster's A Room With A View, and Howards End (three Oscars apiece).
The two went on to earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest partnership in independent cinema history.
Merchant's other love was cuisine; he is the author of numerous books on cooking, including Ismail Merchant's Indian Cooking and Ismail Merchant's Passionate Meals.
He also wrote books on the making of films such as The Deceivers and The Proprietor. His last book was My Passage From India: A Filmmaker's Jurney from Bombay to Hollywood and Beyond.
Merchant was honored with the Honorary Doctor of Arts degree from Bard's College, New York. For his outstanding contribution to cinema, he was given the title of Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French culture ministry.
17 April 2005
Smoked Applewood Bacon and Gorgonzola
This weekend, I achieved what I always attempt: a slower perspective. I smoked hooka on Friday with Scott, Aaron and Julie, while they told me how much they will miss me if I go. I did this until very late while drinking cosmopolitans from a highball. Nice.
Saturday I woke up leisurely and watched Howard Hawks and William Wyler's Come and Get It and was very pleasantly surprised by (mostly) the acting. Howard Hawks is not usually my thing, but Come and Get It has interesting themes of mortality and anti-Capitalism and I think Joel McRea is cute. Then I did laundry and finished last week's crossword.
After that, Wahima met me at my house and then we picked up Mike Steger in Hollywood and headed out to see Laundry & Bourbon at Ultimate. We ended up being at the theatre for four hours (which I had planned on, but which I think was unplanned by my companions) and then we just hung out talking for a few hours. It was Danny, Ashley, Elizabeth, Justin, Aaron, Kim, Mike, Wahima and me, and it was a nice, relaxing time.
Today after sleeping very late I awoke, did some scheduling for the show, updated my Netflix queue, watched an old Charles Boyer/Hedy Lamarr flick: Algiers. Then I watched all of the extras on my copy of Maurice (back to my Merchant Ivory obsession.)
I leisurely headed out to rehearsal around 4:30p, stopping for a chopped salad at CPK and getting in a good bit of reading. It was so nice outside today and I soaked up the fresh air like a dry sponge.
Saturday I woke up leisurely and watched Howard Hawks and William Wyler's Come and Get It and was very pleasantly surprised by (mostly) the acting. Howard Hawks is not usually my thing, but Come and Get It has interesting themes of mortality and anti-Capitalism and I think Joel McRea is cute. Then I did laundry and finished last week's crossword.
After that, Wahima met me at my house and then we picked up Mike Steger in Hollywood and headed out to see Laundry & Bourbon at Ultimate. We ended up being at the theatre for four hours (which I had planned on, but which I think was unplanned by my companions) and then we just hung out talking for a few hours. It was Danny, Ashley, Elizabeth, Justin, Aaron, Kim, Mike, Wahima and me, and it was a nice, relaxing time.
Today after sleeping very late I awoke, did some scheduling for the show, updated my Netflix queue, watched an old Charles Boyer/Hedy Lamarr flick: Algiers. Then I watched all of the extras on my copy of Maurice (back to my Merchant Ivory obsession.)
I leisurely headed out to rehearsal around 4:30p, stopping for a chopped salad at CPK and getting in a good bit of reading. It was so nice outside today and I soaked up the fresh air like a dry sponge.
05 April 2005
No More Hard Times
Rehearsal was really good for me yesterday. I like it when I spontaneously come up with stuff and it actually serves the play. I make myself happy. Not much else for me to report, I guess. I think this show will be very interesting when it's ready for people to see.
I still keep thinking about Shakespeare Wallah. I love those Merchant Ivory guys.
I still keep thinking about Shakespeare Wallah. I love those Merchant Ivory guys.
03 April 2005
Somethin's Gotta Change, 'Cause Our Love's the Slowest-Moving Train
Today has been slightly productive. Actually, the whole weekend has been rather productive.
On Friday night I went on a date, yes, ladies and gentlemen, a date. I know, it's been forever. It was good to do that again. Hopefully, I will be doing more of that in the future.
Yesterday I got a haircut. I meant to do some reading as well, but that didn't really happen. I did see King Vidor's 1937 melodrama Stella Dallas, which was much better than I thought it would be. I like that Barbara Stanwyck. I never thought I did (mostly because of her hideous bangs in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, and her irritating performance in Executive Suite, but after seeing Stella Dallas, I think I do like her. I will have to check out Sorry, Wrong Number soon. After having dinner with the family, I went to a birthday party for someone I barely know, but who recently came out of the closet at age thirty-seven! Mm-hm. It was a nice party, and he's a nice man. His boyfriend's very nice, too. I met Lisa and Julie (who used to date this guy) there. It was, like, a party of all gay men. Good times.
This morning I watched an early Merchant Ivory film called Shakespeare Wallah which I absolutely loved. I recommend it to everyone. It's about the fading influence of British culture on India in the early 1960s and its absolutely wonderful. It's really a neat movie: subtle, poetic and beautiful like M/I's later work. I am on a M/I kick. I am going to check out more of their earlier work. Today I ironed, cleaned my house, paid my bills, ordered photos from a wedding I attended last November, and finished cutting As You Like It. I haven't started the crossword yet, and I don't think I will today. I'm going to go wash my car and try to finish The Line of Beauty.
On Friday night I went on a date, yes, ladies and gentlemen, a date. I know, it's been forever. It was good to do that again. Hopefully, I will be doing more of that in the future.
Yesterday I got a haircut. I meant to do some reading as well, but that didn't really happen. I did see King Vidor's 1937 melodrama Stella Dallas, which was much better than I thought it would be. I like that Barbara Stanwyck. I never thought I did (mostly because of her hideous bangs in Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, and her irritating performance in Executive Suite, but after seeing Stella Dallas, I think I do like her. I will have to check out Sorry, Wrong Number soon. After having dinner with the family, I went to a birthday party for someone I barely know, but who recently came out of the closet at age thirty-seven! Mm-hm. It was a nice party, and he's a nice man. His boyfriend's very nice, too. I met Lisa and Julie (who used to date this guy) there. It was, like, a party of all gay men. Good times.
This morning I watched an early Merchant Ivory film called Shakespeare Wallah which I absolutely loved. I recommend it to everyone. It's about the fading influence of British culture on India in the early 1960s and its absolutely wonderful. It's really a neat movie: subtle, poetic and beautiful like M/I's later work. I am on a M/I kick. I am going to check out more of their earlier work. Today I ironed, cleaned my house, paid my bills, ordered photos from a wedding I attended last November, and finished cutting As You Like It. I haven't started the crossword yet, and I don't think I will today. I'm going to go wash my car and try to finish The Line of Beauty.
03 March 2005
Daily Insanity
There was major drama today at work: the kind of drama that one doesn't get used to working at a job alone. I am in a department where everyone else is a woman: that's eight women to be exact... and me. Normally this means there's always a kind of uneasiness bubbling below the surface. These women can be sensitive and touchy and sometimes (especially with the lazy one) they can be manic and irrational and ridiculously difficult. Today there was an eruption of sorts... enough that the whole department became involved: CFO, controller, HR manager, accounting supervisor, everyone in Accounting. Madness.
Then I had to come home and sit at a Homeowner's Association meeting where one of the owners on my floor was screaming at the president of the board for no apparent reason and he was shouting back at her (defending his honor, I guess, is what he thought he was doing.) In this situation I was actually of help: calming the parties down and asking the property manager to continue on with Board business. Madness.
People are crazy. I could tell you some serious stories of people who own units in this condo association.
There's a man with a dryer in his living room. It's hooked up to his fireplace gas-line.
There's a woman who has a flock of pigeons living on her balcony because she stores cardboard boxes and bottles up there.
There's a male nurse who cares for one of the owners who reportedly flashed and groped (!) a painter who had come to work on the property.
There's a woman who hasn't washed, vacuumed or replaced her carpeting in thirty years. Reportedly there are paths of dirt from doorways into other rooms where she has walked since the 1970s.
There are people storing a mattress in the garage where their car is supposed to be parked.
There are people who go visit the property manager and yell at her in her office.
There are people who are too embarrassed to allow anyone into their units.
There are people who let their dogs defecate in the hallway and don't clean it up.
Madness.
In good news:
I cast my show last night. I feel fairly good about the cast list and I think that all the writers are happy with me and with their casts.
I bought myself a book: The Films of Merchant Ivory. Very exciting.
Tomorrow is Friday.
I'm going to see Steel Train on Sunday.
I don't have another HOA meeting until June.
XO
Aaron
Then I had to come home and sit at a Homeowner's Association meeting where one of the owners on my floor was screaming at the president of the board for no apparent reason and he was shouting back at her (defending his honor, I guess, is what he thought he was doing.) In this situation I was actually of help: calming the parties down and asking the property manager to continue on with Board business. Madness.
People are crazy. I could tell you some serious stories of people who own units in this condo association.
There's a man with a dryer in his living room. It's hooked up to his fireplace gas-line.
There's a woman who has a flock of pigeons living on her balcony because she stores cardboard boxes and bottles up there.
There's a male nurse who cares for one of the owners who reportedly flashed and groped (!) a painter who had come to work on the property.
There's a woman who hasn't washed, vacuumed or replaced her carpeting in thirty years. Reportedly there are paths of dirt from doorways into other rooms where she has walked since the 1970s.
There are people storing a mattress in the garage where their car is supposed to be parked.
There are people who go visit the property manager and yell at her in her office.
There are people who are too embarrassed to allow anyone into their units.
There are people who let their dogs defecate in the hallway and don't clean it up.
Madness.
In good news:
I cast my show last night. I feel fairly good about the cast list and I think that all the writers are happy with me and with their casts.
I bought myself a book: The Films of Merchant Ivory. Very exciting.
Tomorrow is Friday.
I'm going to see Steel Train on Sunday.
I don't have another HOA meeting until June.
XO
Aaron
26 February 2005
One Day to Go Before Oscar Night!
I went grocery shopping for the big bash tomorrow. Hopefully, the food will all come out lovely. I get so nervous about this sort of thing. I also did my tax return! I get $101 dollars back from the Feds and I owe the State of California $36. Fascinating, I know.
In addition to doing all of the shopping and reporting my income to the Internal Revenue Service, I also found time to sit down and re-watch James Ivory's Maurice. I rarely re-watch films, as you know, (there are so many I haven't seen, why spend time watching one I have?) but Maurice has been calling to me since I got it for Christmas.
The Tale of Maurice and Its Enormous Impact on My Life
Leading up to high school and all during high school, I spent most of my free time reading. I read a lot of important stuff like Dostoyevsky as well as a lot of fluff like Agatha Christie. After high school, I really began to start watching movies. I used to have perpetual Blockbuster rentals at my house. I would rent two and then when I had to return the two I would rent another two. Film after film... the whole summer of 1998. My friends and I went to movies in high school, sure. (I notoriously dragged them to see Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and we saw Titanic three times in the theatre.) But it was after high school that I really started to have an interest in film. I saw John Madden's Shakespeare in Love that fall with my sister. Jaime, Aaron Bell and I went to see Elizabeth. This was also the year of Saving Private Ryan, which I suffered through with some people from church (they picked it, not I). I decided that I would see the other two movies that were nominated for Best Picture that year, and that led me to seeing Life is Beautiful in the beginning of 1999 and then going to the cinema alone for the very first time to see Terrence Malick's incredible The Thin Red Line. By then I was checking the paper to find screenings of independent films and reading about cinema online and elsewhere. I quickly became a lover of Woody Allen and started to watch movies from specific directors; I began to pay attention to a director's stroke on a film: something I never knew a thing about.
I was in the closet back then as you can imagine. After awhile, without really knowing that's what I was doing, I began to seek out films that spoke specifically to me as a gay youth. I can't really remember when I first saw Maurice, but I remember that it had a profound effect on me. It was Maurice that first gave me an example of a homosexual man who made his life work. He wasn't a queen who had to die like the hero of Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman and he didn't end up humiliated and alone like Oscar Wilde. Maurice Hall found a love that made him happy and hung on to it. It isn't a romantic comedy, but it's a beautiful romance, and I think this film, before anything else came along, told me that what I knew I was was something that was okay.
In addition to doing all of the shopping and reporting my income to the Internal Revenue Service, I also found time to sit down and re-watch James Ivory's Maurice. I rarely re-watch films, as you know, (there are so many I haven't seen, why spend time watching one I have?) but Maurice has been calling to me since I got it for Christmas.
The Tale of Maurice and Its Enormous Impact on My Life
Leading up to high school and all during high school, I spent most of my free time reading. I read a lot of important stuff like Dostoyevsky as well as a lot of fluff like Agatha Christie. After high school, I really began to start watching movies. I used to have perpetual Blockbuster rentals at my house. I would rent two and then when I had to return the two I would rent another two. Film after film... the whole summer of 1998. My friends and I went to movies in high school, sure. (I notoriously dragged them to see Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, and we saw Titanic three times in the theatre.) But it was after high school that I really started to have an interest in film. I saw John Madden's Shakespeare in Love that fall with my sister. Jaime, Aaron Bell and I went to see Elizabeth. This was also the year of Saving Private Ryan, which I suffered through with some people from church (they picked it, not I). I decided that I would see the other two movies that were nominated for Best Picture that year, and that led me to seeing Life is Beautiful in the beginning of 1999 and then going to the cinema alone for the very first time to see Terrence Malick's incredible The Thin Red Line. By then I was checking the paper to find screenings of independent films and reading about cinema online and elsewhere. I quickly became a lover of Woody Allen and started to watch movies from specific directors; I began to pay attention to a director's stroke on a film: something I never knew a thing about.
I was in the closet back then as you can imagine. After awhile, without really knowing that's what I was doing, I began to seek out films that spoke specifically to me as a gay youth. I can't really remember when I first saw Maurice, but I remember that it had a profound effect on me. It was Maurice that first gave me an example of a homosexual man who made his life work. He wasn't a queen who had to die like the hero of Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman and he didn't end up humiliated and alone like Oscar Wilde. Maurice Hall found a love that made him happy and hung on to it. It isn't a romantic comedy, but it's a beautiful romance, and I think this film, before anything else came along, told me that what I knew I was was something that was okay.
09 September 2004
Movies I've Seen Recently That Have Been Sort of Crap
WarGames. Lame. I love Ally Sheedy, but this movie was lame. I wish I could save the world with a game of tic-tac-toe.
Havana. Must we always see Cuba with a backdrop of 1958? The reason for this is that Cuba after 1959 doesn't include any white people. I'm tired of looking at this period in Cuba's history. Let's see something else. I still love Lena Olin, though.
Is Paris Burning? This was supposed to be a star-studded extravaganza. No. The audio is horrible, but that's beside the point because this movie (clocking in at 172 minutes) is fucking boring.
Down with Love. Down with this movie. It was cute for the first 40 minutes and then it went south in a real hurry. I really disliked Renée Zellweger in this film. Her acting is just bad. Ewan McGregor, however, can trick me into believing he's an astronaut any day of the week.
First Love. Boo to Deana Durbin (who looks exactly like Renée Zellweger would look if she ate every once in a while), and boo to this partial retelling of the Cinderella story and partial ripoff of Victor Schertzinger's One Night of Love.
Hero. Pretty... and pretty sentimental. I love Zhang Yimou, but this movie was boring. Hopefully his next film, House of Flying Daggers, is better.
It's a Wonderful Life. Whatever. This movie was good for a little while. But it's sooo sentimental and schmaltzy. I know everyone will say I have a heart of stone, but giving up your dreams to make other people happy is not "a wonderful life." It may be noble, and he may feel some sort of righteousness, but he's still not living his dream and he's still not happy. Jimmy Stewart was great, though. I have to admit.
The Bostonians. I usually like Merchant/Ivory. At least I think I do. The main problem with this movie is the always boring Christopher Reeve in the lead role. Thank god he doesn't do movies anymore. The lead girl and he have no chemistry and the lead girl is annoying in her own right. I can't remember her name because I'm trying to forget it.
19 August 2004
Liberace Gay
It is amazing how the events of the day can simply melt away when I get home. This is why I love my condo so much. It is my home. I put on some music (this time it's Mahler - Ich bin der Welt Abhanden Gekommen) and allow my day to just ebb away from me.
Still listening to Caroline, or Change a lot. The more I listen the more I love it. The music is so beautiful and it has so much to say.
Before I left work for the afternoon Marie had called me. We got the rights to Valparaiso and it's a go. I was supposed to talk to Dustin the set designer but I he didn't call me. Hm. So that's what we're doing in the fall Valparaiso by Don DeLillo. I reread it this evening and I'm happy. It is so fucked up, and it's brilliant in it's way. DeLillo is speaking his own theatrical language: a language no one else in the theatre is speaking. For someone as obsessed with forms as I am, this is great. I am excited again. It's not a perfect "Aaron Thomas" play like Pterodactyls, but it's poetic and beautiful and it has some great roles in it. I'm going to cast seven people: four-five women and two-three men (depending on the talent). Ok. It's gonna be ok.
I got home and finished The Bostonians. And for the record I did not like it at all. I love Vanessa Redgrave, and she was fine in the part, but I hate weak characters like this. And it just wasn't cinematic enough. This was early Merchant/Ivory, I guess. I loved several of the movies they made following this movie: Maurice, Remains of the Day, A Room with a View, Howards End. All of those are wonderful. But boo to The Bostonians. I know this is sacrilege, but I think one of the chief reasons I didn't like the movie is because I really don't like Christopher Reeve as an actor. I know he's paralyzed and shit now, but he wasn't a very strong actor. He's downright bad in this movie. I don't know. Opinions? Can anyone name a good Christopher Reeve movie?
After the movie I baked a cake. I felt like a spice cake. I am fine with cake mixes; I made my own frosting, though. I refuse to eat that fake stuff out of a tub. It tastes processed to me.
I have the tendency to work myself up when I have to see someone I am not really interested in seeing or when I have to go to a big party. (Contrary to popular belief, crowds are not my favorite thing in the world.) So my best friend from high school has been trying to get me to hang out with him for at least a month and I made plans with him for tonight. Of course I didn't want to go, and of course we fell right into synch with one another when I got there. He was my best friend and it shows when we talk. I think anyone walking past would just assume that we have been friends for years. My sexuality is a big issue with him, but I have to confess he is a lot better, even than he was six months ago.
The phrase "that's gay" doesn't mean to me what it means to other people, I realized. He said he went to a party and it "was really gay" and I'm thinking, "Was it in Laguna?" and then I realize he means it was boring. The next time he said it he said, "You thought it was gay?" and I said, "Well generally when I say 'gay' I don't mean 'bad'" and he apologized! I was stunned.
He is sorry we're not closer. He wishes he could talk to me more. He invited me out with him on Saturday.
"So guess who's gay--apart from yourself."
John told me that this guy who was the head of the young republicans at our high school is now out of the closet. "He's, like, Liberace gay," says John. I can't really describe how this makes me feel. First of all, I was always really attracted to this guy. We weren't friends because he was three years older than I and he was really really rich, but I ran into him about three years ago and we chatted for a bit. This guy was a crazy Republican in school and he went to Notre Dame for his BS. Now, John says, he's out and proud and liberal as all get-out. This makes me feel so good. There was someone else at my high school. I've always felt like such an anomaly, coming from that school. It's not just that: this guy was always a great guy, and now he's out. It feels like some kind of victory.
It reminds me of a game that Ryan, Fergie, Isaac, Christina, and I used to play. Homos: 1
06 March 2004
Extremely productive day
UCLA was a very good thing today. Campus is beautiful. I learned today that I don't think I want an MfA... I am quite sure that I don't want one from UCLA at any case. I had a very long conversation with some of the faculty there. They had much to say that has me thinking.
Watched A Passage to India tonight. Boredom. Although the man Judy Davis doesn't marry--Nigel Havers--is bloody gorgeous. I wanted to rape him under the Indian sun. Well, maybe not that far... or maybe so. Hm.
I really must do my laundry tomorrow.
What is an MfA? It is a degree awarded by a school purporting to offer a good liberal arts education. Does it mean anything if it comes from anyplace less than one of the best schools in the country? What is it for? Will it allow me to teach in one of the best schools in the country?
Parents extremely supportive, although, they want to know what my plans are now that I am not going to UCLA. Guys: it's been 3 hours. Give me time to think...
Watched A Passage to India tonight. Boredom. Although the man Judy Davis doesn't marry--Nigel Havers--is bloody gorgeous. I wanted to rape him under the Indian sun. Well, maybe not that far... or maybe so. Hm.
I really must do my laundry tomorrow.
What is an MfA? It is a degree awarded by a school purporting to offer a good liberal arts education. Does it mean anything if it comes from anyplace less than one of the best schools in the country? What is it for? Will it allow me to teach in one of the best schools in the country?
Parents extremely supportive, although, they want to know what my plans are now that I am not going to UCLA. Guys: it's been 3 hours. Give me time to think...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)