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Saturday, 11.06.04: The Week in Review
Saturday. Strange weather: warm and windy. Up to 70 for a day -- tomorrow back to 50. Feels like the wind of change -- humid, like Spring. Spending time trying to get back in touch with my so-called film career -- catching up on periodicals and web sites. Went to a 50th birthday party for Maria's boyfriend Scott.
Sunday. Gave myself a day off. Lounged around reading a novel, The Passion of Artemisia. A friend lent me his copy to help prepare me for Italy. It's a fictionalized account of a female Renaissance painter. Confirms my suspicion that Italy is primarily about art and sex. Jim observed that Roma spelled backwards is amor.
Monday. I got back to work on my screenplay. A few days off have given me a fresh perspective.
Tuesday. Election Day. Finally. This afternoon I bought a tiny video camera for our trip -- a Sony Handycam DCR-HC20 Mini DV. I'm not that big a fan of vacation videos and never much liked the prospect of lugging video gear around. But if I'm trying to make a go of it as a video artiste, then I need to practice, practice, practice. And this little baby will fit into a pocket.
Wednesday.
Birthday: #56. Licking my
liberal wounds after the miserable election. My doctor forgot to show up
for an 8:15 appt, so I got rescheduled for 6 P.M. Ugh. Bought myself a
bottle of wine on the way home to "celebrate" with my leftover pizza.
The doc agreed with my decision to wean myself from hormone replacement.
I'm hoping that I am safely past the worst of hot flashes.
Thursday. Good progress on Act II. Concentrating on "beats," the little exchanges of action-reaction in a scene.
Friday. Still making screenplay progress. Maria called to say that the zoo finally wants us to get going on our little video project with them. It will be interesting to see what they want. We had my official birthday dinner tonight with Jim's daughter Heidi and her husband Paul. Heidi and I drank cosmos and we all yakked incessantly about the election and our new minority status. Good way to end the week.
MOVIES THIS WEEK
Il Postino. (1994)Beautiful little movie about the power of poetry.
Control Room. Interesting look into Al Jazeera, the Arab-language network in Qatar. It takes place during the run-up to the Iraq war. Good look at diverse perspectives.
Goya in Bordeaux. Discussed here. Thanks to Fugai for the recommendation.
BOOKS
The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland (2002). Interesting orientation to Renaissance Italy, but the plot is weak.
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