Altered Realities

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus mysteriously appeared with no fanfare at the little theater downtown this Friday. I'm not sure when this movie was released, and I'm pretty sure it didn't come to the bigger, modern theaters at the mall and the new town center here. This is Heath Ledger's last movie, the one in which he died during the filming and Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Collin Ferrell replaced him in the Imaginarium through-the-looking-glass parts. My expectations were probably too high for this movie -- I anticipated fantastical special effects, an unusual set of characters and situations, explanations that made sense, and good acting, but none of those expectations were met. When one steps through the imaginarium, scenes unfolded that seemed no better than the 1960s-ish effects from the scenes in the Mary Poppins movie in which Mary Poppins and friends sing with the penguins, fishes and carousel horses. Maybe that was supposed to make it charming and old-fashioned, but it seemed gritty and unimaginatarium-like to me.
The following day I watched "The Wolfman," for which I had no expectations. I suspect this movie had a bigger budget, because the scenery was beautiful and dramatic, the characters were believable, and Anthony Hopkins was just a little bit terrifying. In both movies, reality was changed by the supernatural, but in very different ways. There are those movies and situations in real life when our realities are altered, sometimes as if by magic or the supernatural. Some people crave that altered reality and some people steer as far away as possible from it.

How About That Weather?

I believe, without measuring, we got about 14 inches of snow Saturday. I shoveled six to eight inches out of the driveway Friday night, about six inches more Saturday morning, an inch or two Saturday afternoon, and another inch on Sunday. Make that 16 inches, then. I would venture to guess that the amount of snow in this county depends on what side of town you measuring from. I saw the blue sky and a glimmer of brilliant, sideways sunlight, ever so briefly on Saturday from about 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. I also made some amazing rack of lamb with couscous and lima beans this evening.

How a Rock and A Leaf Can Make a Drive Home Better

In October we were taking a walk in the neighborhood. We found a cement post by a dentist's office that was about three or four feet high. It's the kind of post that prevents cars from crashing into a dentist's building. We put a red maple leaf on top of the post, with a rock on top of it to hold it down. From October until now, we check on our leaf and rock, when we think of it, when we drive by. It makes us smile a little bit, to know the leaf and the rock are still there, and because, in a way, the leaf looks like it's waving to us. They've almost become our friends. It also makes me happy because it reminds me of how we can amuse ourselves, and construct our own intricate realities, to make life sweet.

Travel

Amazing what a change of scenery, beautiful landscape, and friendly people can do to lift a person's mood, as I state again like I have stated before, I'm sure. Today was sunny (but bitterly cold) and immeasurably bright, and I got to drive home in a glowing, exhilarating sunset that gave the earth a pink aura. I think of how we are all stuck in our boxes at home, and how so many people missed out on a great sunset. The way society has evolved has turned us into constructs of solitariness, and away from what makes us feel alive -- travel, connections, horizons, sun, trees, clouds, wind, fresh air, buildings, rivers, flowers, communalism and amazing coincidences. You can't get so much of that at home.

Loaf, is what she said. And more.

Sunday a waitress explained to me what "scrapple" is, and I almost wasn't hungry anymore.

Distance

This past weekend we took a journey to the homeland, and saw Avatar for the second time. We celebrated a birthday and sang Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog as requested by the birthday subject, enjoying her closest 20 friends and family members as we ate at a Chinese restaurant. We sang and ate there last year, except that last year I arrived close to the end of dinner because I went, in search of the right place, to the other three Chinese restaurants in town first, even though I had passed by the right restaurant when I first drove in to town and would have been on time if I'd known that restaurant had changed its name from the name I knew.
This evening I contemplated going over to my neighbor's house to explain that his two bags of trash had fallen into my driveway and a lot of it had spilled out onto my hillside and yard. I don't think he could see it from his place. He wasn't friendly, but said he'd take care of it. I was nice. He was standoff-ish. I hate it when the pull of energy is not the same between two people. It leaves me feeling off balance. I was thinking about the dynamics of physics and space in relationships yesterday when I took a walk. It is rare when two people share the same energy and feeling for each other. When it happens, you somehow, somewhere, feel the connection and the other person feels it, too. I just think it's physical, physics, in the invisible energy waves. As basic as it seems, it feels good to commit it to words.

Traffic

Today I was amazed and blissful about seeing an ad for Blue Moon on the back of a beer delivery truck. It was a giant moon, with streaks and variations of blue, orange, and yellow, created artistically to look like a painting that should be framed. All the colors were cheerful and moody at the same time. It was beautiful. I thought, "Blue Moon just gets me." Oh ... also, the sun was shining brilliantly, something we haven't seen in a long while.