The Dig

 The Dig is a movie about the excavations at Sutton Hoo, and a gentle period piece with Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan, and Lily James. I listened to dozens of  episodes of the History of English podcast, complete with  recitations of Anglo-Saxon poetry, so it was fun to see the story about the dig that uncovered so much Anglo-Saxon material culture. 

Here's a documentary about the objects that are now in the British Museum:

Reading: Zadie Smith essays

Reading in progress: Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith. Seventeen essays are grouped in five sections: Reading, Being, Seeing (on film), Feeling, Remembering. I started reading the book straight through, but ended up jumping to the middle to read her essay on her writing process.

"That Crafty Feeling" is a lecture she gave when asked to speak "on some aspect of your craft" and it's funny as hell.  When I was working on my one and only book (not a novel), I was definitely in her "Micro Manager" category: endlessly rewriting the first chapter, finishing the last half of the book in a few months.

Himalaya: l'enfance d'un chef. (1999)

 Tonight for the Red Lantern cinema chat group, we will be talking about Himalaya, a film made by Eric Valli in Nepal in 1999.  The soundtrack, by Bruno Coulais, is wonderful.

Reading all the books: a project

I have so many unread books, I have run out of room for them. This was never a problem in my place in Minnesota where I had space for lots of bookshelves at home, and an entire office with floor-to-ceiling shelves for all my books for work. When I moved I got rid of almost all of them. It was a huge project; I sold as many as I could, donated more to graduate students, put a lot in the Little Free Library boxes near my house, and carted off the rest to Good Will. I only saved 9 boxes that I shipped to California when I moved.

Now I live in a small apartment with small bookshelves, and all of them are full. I've been using the library a lot, and I'm ruthless in giving away books as I read them; very few make the cut for permanent lodging.  Right now, in addition to the unread books on my shelves, there are at least 50 or more books stacked on my living room table.  I've decided to adopt a strict one-in, one-out policy I can't bring home any new books until I've read something from the book pile and returned it to one of the Little Free Library boxes that are the destinations of my daily walks. 

One in: just yesterday, I brought home is Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States (2014) by Felipe Fernández Armesto.
He's an engaging writer who is able to bring precise scholarship to big picture essays. I used some of his work in my classes, and I am sure I'll enjoy this book.

 One out: my most recent read, which I thoroughly enjoyed, is a memoir with recipes called Cakewalk by Kate Moses.

Before I return it to circulation, I want to choose one of her recipes to try. I don't have a mixer so my baking style is a little limited, but I'm sure I can make some of her brownies!

Next up: Zadie Smith, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays.

Lucía

 Tonight for the Criterion Cinema Chat group, we will be discussion the 1968 Cuban film Lucía, directed by Humberto Solás.

Some ideas I hope can spark discussion: 

• How do the three segments work together, not just as separate stories? The struggle for freedom across 100 years, continuity in the name, a progression in female protagonism.
• Foundational fiction/national romance as a structuring trope of 19th century Latin American literature. Difference from 20th century novels where 3 women represent 3 different choices for the male subject because here we see the issue of women as (potential) protagonists. women are objects of struggle, the terrain of struggle but also becoming actors in the struggle, if still enmeshed in love/marriage plot.
• the scenes of violence and woman's action
•  first Lucia: rape/betrayal/revenge, warfare, ends with madwoman. Lucía is from the creole plantation-owning class, her lover is  the spy-betrayer. At stake are the categories of "Spaniard" vs "Cuban." She is not directly involved in the political struggle, although she has sympathy for the fate of the woman who is raped. The man she loves claims to be both Cuban and Spaniard and also to be outside politics, turns out to be already married and a spy who uses her, manipulating her spinster desire, to get to the hide-out of her brother and the mambises. Her revenge is to kill him in the town square. The interactions with the raped nun/betrayed novia: a split female subject.
  
• second Lucia: machine gun battles in the city, strike, ends with her pregnant, maybe suicidal. This Lucía is from a bourgeois family, with her frivolous bitter mother in the country home, choices of the conventional family vs. love; she leaves her class and family to be with the revolutionary. Goes to work in tobacco factory, takes part in the strike. Aldo and his friend represent the two options after Machado is thrown out. Aldo chooses to continue the struggle, as would many Cubans, against Batista (orgy). Alone and pregnant, whither the future? Here the woman is a participant although still not making the choices (with the machine guns), but will she survive? jump in the water?
  
• third Lucia:  national change linked to woman as citizen-worker. After the revolution, this Lucía is the peasant worker. Love and marriage consummated but now the man keeps her a prisoner, is like an anti-revolutionary gusano, interferes with the literacy campaign. The reading scene where she is encouraged to leave him. She refuses to obey, writes "I am not a slave," goes to work, fights back. All the women unite to prevent the husband from attacking her. The futile struggle at the end.
• child at the end, a revolutionary consciousness from the future? also hokey, jarring.
  

cinema chat groups

I joined the conversation of the cinema discussion group last night about King of Peking (2017), a film made by Sam Voutas in China. He's Australian but spent some formative years in China, and made a Chinese-language film set in Beijing of the '90s.  We had also been talking about the Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour's film A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night and the way film's are positioned in relation to a country and its film-making. What difference does it make to how a film is experienced when we locate it as "Iranian" or "Chinese"? Does it make sense to talk about Amirpour's film as a diaspora (or "post diaspora") film? What does King of Peking "get right" about a Beijing that exists mostly in memory? This conversation is certainly relevant to the Cuban films we're watching for the Criterion Chat group. I will watch Lucia this weekend for our Monday discussion.

While I was poking around looking for reviews, I found this list of "100 films to watch to help you understand China"  from the site radiichina. 

This could be a project!

 

Berkeley Bowl pilgrimages

In the last year of pandemic isolation, my one and only excursion in contact with other people has been my weekly grocery shopping excursion to Berkeley Bowl, aka The Temple of Produce. It has been here since 1977, when I was an undergraduate, and was originally in a former bowling alley, hence the name. You can get everything there, but the main attraction is the huge produce section which has just about every variety of fruit and vegetable you can imagine.

 I live walking distance away, but for the past several months my sister has been driving over from Daly City. We get to see each other, and and I don't have to schlep heavy bags back from the store now that I don't have a car any more. 

I feel comfortable shopping there because they are observing the most sensible hygiene and social distancing measures: they only let a certain amount of people into the store at a time; they wipe down the carts between use; there are markings on the floor to regulate how people line up to check out so that everyone stays a good distance away from each other; masks are mandatory and for a long time they provided gloves at the entrance. If we bring our own bags, we put our stuff into the cart and take it outside to bag on tables, to prevent cross-contamination and bottlenecks.  In the early months, there were often long lines (although they moved quickly) to get in, but we haven't had to wait in a line for months now. I can get almost everything I need there. The only thing  haven't been able to find lately is compact flourescent lightbulbs so I'll have to go to Ace Hardware for those.

Here's a demo of a recipe for lemonade using the shiso leaf, from the wonderful Berkeley Bowl Cookbook:

hey

Took the blog off private, just to see what it feels like. I'm not sure I'll be using it the way I did before, but rereading my posts is giving me lots of feelings and sparking curiosity: where did everybody go? all those bloggers I used to read regularly who also stopped blogging in the last few years--did we all end up on Twitter? who has a podcast? a YouTube channel? did everyone else delete Facebook the way I did? Time for a little exploration.

A question: why does my neighbor down the street blast music from speakers on his porch? Last night, I finally walked down the block and asked him to turn it down, and he apologized and turned it down, but here he is back on it again today.

I have been rewatching seasons 1-2 of Mozart in the Jungle because I want to watch seasons 3-4, and I needed to remember what happened. I'm enjoying it again. It makes me want to go to New York, Mexico City, Havana...and to listen to all the music they feature. I also want to finish it and cancel my Amazon Prime subscription before the free trial is over because I'm trying to be principled and boycott Amazon although I rejoined it to get some BTS-related deal or other.

organizing photos

Photo consolidation:
1. upload photos from phone to Google Drive, then delete to free up storage;
2. transfer photos from Dropbox to Google Drive, then delete to free up space;
3. download all photos from Google Drive to backup hard drive, but keep them to have both cloud and harddrive backups
4. upload photos from laptop to Google Drive, then delete to free up storage.

How many will I lose because I deleted them before I was sure they were backed up? How many duplicates will I have because I was afraid I'd lose them if I didn't back them up again?

Why is this so hard?

currently watching...

Chinese drama:
Tribes and Empires (56/75) better than Game of Thrones. In spite of some major script deficiencies, there are many terrific and subtle performances from most of the cast. I'm not always a fan of the cdrama historical fantasies, but this one has been consistently worthwhile.

Korean dramas:
Just Between Lovers (8/16) current crack. LOVE Junho, so glad he won an award. This is one of the ones that feels emotionally real.

Money Flower (16/24) makjang-a-palooza! but with Jang Hyuk and strong supporting cast, especially Jang Seung Jo, I'm hanging in there to see what grotesque plot twist comes next.

Master in the House (1/?), new variety show with Lee Seung Gi, Yook Sung Jae from BtoB
(who was so good in Goblin), Yang Se Hyeung, and the gorgeous Lee Sang Yoon aka Dimples, who was so damn good in that airport melodrama.

Hwayugi (3/20) terrific, but marred by production disasters. Hong Sisters so snappy dialogue, lots of ghosts and horror, Journey to the West character comedy.

I'm Not a Robot (20/32) absolutely silly but still charming. I have enjoyed Chae Soo Bin in all her big roles this year.

Jugglers (8/16) mostly fun. but I'm running out of steam. Not sure if I'll keep watching. Choi Daniel is entertaining, and the supporting cast is great, but the writing---so much meh.

Bravo My Life (36/60) This drama is so bad, so very bad in so many ways! The set design, the directing, the music choices, most of the writing. And yet... the cast really is chewing the scenery with this trope-y makjang-a-rama, especially Yeon Jung Hoon (uri vampire prosecutor), Hyun Woo. Kang Ji Sub is such a cheesy piece of beefcake, but he's won me over with his comedic timing. I don't know if I can stand it, though.

In the queue: Argon, Wise Prison, Black. 

Hello friend

BTS on New Year's Eve 2017.

Counting down to midnight on New Year's Eve by re-watching all the BTS award show and festival performances they've done since they returned from the U.S. There are five events.

At MAMA in Hong Kong, they did a 20-minute set, with intro video material that drops hints about their next projects (I don't bother trying to figure it out, but they always do it).
Intro + DNA + You Never Walk Alone + Spring Day, then Cypher 4 and a version of Mic Drop with three new dance breaks that were so exciting.

Just a few days later they were back in Korea and performed at the Melon Awards. The set was
DNA+You Never Walk Alone+Spring Day. 

The first of the three year-end song festivals (Gayo) was the SBS show.
The set included DNA and Not Today,

and they finished up with Mic Drop.


At the second festival, the KBS Gayo Daechukje, they had a live band, and began with Spring Day, that incorporated key dance moves from several of their earlier title songs in a dance break at the end. They followed up with a throwback to Lost that showed off the vocal line, then Cypher 4 for the rap line. With the band, they did a rock version of DNA and Not Today, wearing military uniforms.

Finally, their last performance in Korea in 2017 was at the MBC Gayo where they did a sweet version of Go Go, throwing hearts to the fans:
 and then returned to the album version of Mic Drop, rather than the Steve Aoki remix, with all three of the dance breaks they had done at MAMA. At this festival, they performed right after New Year's Eve, and were clearly elated with how they have ended this tremendous year.

Maggie Cheung at the PFA (fall 2017)

I went to most of the films in this series at the PFA of Maggie Cheung movies.  I had already seen Irma Vep, and was out of town for In the Mood for Love, but I saw the rest of the series. Such a star!

Clean (dir. Olivier Assayas) 2004
A heartbreaking account of a mother who attempts to kick her habit in order to win back custody of her child after her famous musician husband ODs. (I did not realize that they were married). She won Best Actress at Cannes for this role.

Comrades: Almost a Love Story (dir. Peter Chan) 1996 Hong Kong. Leon Lai is so hunky in this story of immigrants.

Center Stage (dir. Stanley Kwan) betrayal and survival, in the Chinese film industry during the revolution. The story of Chinese actress Ruan Lingyu who committed suicide in 1935, at the age of 24.

Green Snake (Tsui Hark) 1993.
Snake sisters!

Hero (dir. Zhang Yimou) 2002
Red! Blue! White! Green!

VIXX Shangri La

Oct 22-28:Scorpio season

In a week, my daughter will turn 23. In another week, I will turn 60. Woo hoo, it's double Scorpio time!

Yesterday, I pulled La Papesse: The Moon. Yin energy. Water. Intuition, clairvoyance, connection to the unconscious. Duality, powerful feminine energy. No decision: hibernate, study, connect with dreams and inner knowledge.

 Today I pulled the Knight of Swords. Air of Air. Gallant, active, charging off with good intentions. Not always aware of trampling on others, tactless, steamroller, oblivious to own self-righteousness. This card is my "Joan of Arc" card, that aspect of myself that comes at 3AM to torment me with shame for all the times I trampled on others without realizing it. It doesn't matter if you are right if you are also hurting people. They won't take responsibility for their hurtful actions to you if they feel scalded by scorn.

So, the two of these together remind me that Jupiter is transiting through Scorpio this coming year, and I get to go on a Scorpio growth ride.

So let's make it a Comal flight of tequilas with delicious sangrita chasers!

Oct 15-21: why do I have abdominal distress?

Missed last week , but here we are.

Watching almost ALL the new kdramas, like it's my job. Dropped a couple that are just not good, but still plenty of fun ones.

Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment. On the one hand, I have lost about 10 lbs, slowly, with the paleo diet I adopted as a way to try to rule out food allergies. I cut out added sugar, gluten, alcohol, dairy, and most starches (rice, almost no corn or potatoes) in favor of fruits, vegetables, and animal proteins. I feel more clear, no longer as bloated, less sluggish, more in connection with my real appetite. I'm hoping to rule out any underlying food allergies by re-introducing foods one at a time to see what happens.
But a few days ago I had a recurrence of a very bad bout of acid reflux/esophogeal spasms, and that little pain in the upper left quadrant of my abdomen that I've been noticing after a meal. It's very localized and now it is also actually painful to the touch. Doing a little research, it seems that I could have a little hiatal hernia, which would explain many of the problems I've been having for years.

I will ask for imaging. I don't just want to take antacids.

The good news: the diet change has had some positive effects. Not being on other medications means that the symptoms aren't being masked any more as their side effects. I'm losing weight as I have planned. I'm eating better.
The not-good news: I may have a hiatal hernia, probably from that bad period during my eighth month of pregnancy when I had such bad diaphragm pain. I may need to take some kind of antacid, or I might even need surgery if it is bad enough. But there are things I can do to relieve the pain and discomfort, if that is what it turns out to be. I will hold off on bringing back foods until I'm able to clearly distinguish these symptoms from what might happen from a food allergy. Right now, it seems it would be impossible to distinguish between the two.

UPDATE: lower intestinal distress of unknown nature, but not esophageal, not a hernia, not an ulcer. Informed that if I am not feverish, bleeding, or completely unable to poop or pee, I just have to shrug my shoulders and live with it, and no effort will be made to diagnose or help me learn what it is. I was so frustrated. I think I need a different doctor. I'm tired of her Kaiser battlefield triage.

Oct 8-14: this week's intentions

I can't wait for the chocolate persimmons to hit the Berkeley Bowl!
This, week there is no session with Marilyn on Monday (libraries closed for the holiday). I could take BART to SFMOMA, which closes Wed. instead of Mon.
I will continue to research internet service providers, although Cindy and Chuck have upgraded out account to unlimited data plan.

I will also continue with the paleo diet. Pat myself on the back for choosing fruits, veg, meat instead of sugar, dairy, carbs, alcohol. I have cooked the shrimp and the butternut squash by roasting them in the oven (tossed in salt and olive oil). I've found myself hungry, because I'm also doing better with portion control and quantity. I'm not counting calories, but I have slowing lost a few pounds. I'm still in that phase where the scale bounces up and down, but this morning I actually saw 170, down from 176-8. It may bounce up again to 172-4, but the trend is in the right direction.

This week, I will walk every day. Last week, I had a few days where I only walked to the library and back (about 1/2 mile total), so I want to do better this week. Today I walked to 4th street, which is a respectable 2.3 miles.

• ✓sun: home to 4th St. (2.3 miles)
• X mon: home to Virginia/Milvia  (.8 mile) and back (.8 mile) total 1.6 miles
• tues: home to Ashby/Shattuck (.8 mile) and back (.8 mile) total 1.6 miles
• fri: home to meeting to West Library (.8 mile + 1.4 miles =2.2 miles) return Libary to home 1.6 miles) total 2.2 + 1.6 = 3.8 miles

travel plans: look carefully at all the travel blogs I have bookmarked.
language study every day

Oct 1-8: this week's intentions

 Johnny and I took a walk by Lake Merritt on Sunday, the first day of the month. Along with a row of cormorants, we saw this sleeping bird and turtle. After brunch, we walked up to the Rose Garden and admired a very nonchalant turkey couple.

I assume this guy is used to being hand-fed, because he let us get right up next to him.

I went over to mom's and helped her clean out her storage room and dispose of some junk. We did not have a talk. I was able to be calm and pleasant. Major accomplishment, yay me.

Last week, I followed through on my intention to start an allergy elimination diet that will also help me jump-start my weight-loss goals. I have stopped eating dairy ( no milk in my coffee! no cheese or yogurt! no cereal!), alcohol, gluten, rice and beans, soy, and added sugar. I'm eating meat, fruit, and vegetables (including plantain and beet chips from the Berkeley Bowl). I am allowing myself the treat of two chocolate-covered macadamia nut treats a day from the box Cindy and Chuck gave me, so that I don't go crazy and rebel. So far, I have lost a couple of pounds, even if my bathroom scale is from the stone age. The idea is that if I can lose a pound a week, I will lose 30 lbs in 30 weeks, which puts me at my target in late spring. I don't need to go back to my original weight, but I would like to be more fit and not have my feet hurt.

 I have also been eating in moderation. That's the key. I am really enjoying my salads, and today I will go back to the Berkeley Bowl to get more groovy salad fixings (endive, frisee, arugula, cherry tomatoes, avocado, pea pods).

This week, I also renew my commitment to walk every day. Last week, I missed a few days because of excessive heat, but the last stretch was good. My walks over the the West Library are a good stretch.

At least fifteen minutes a day (and more if I can) will will do some kind of Japanese or Korean language study. This includes using the phone app for hiragana/katakana practice, and writing out the hangul of dialogues or kpop song lyrics.
Yesterday, I resisted the urge to substitute buying more Japanese textbooks for actually using the ones I already have.

This week I will:

• practice time expressions in Korean and Japanese;
• print out the new will and other documents;
• get new earbuds;
• do a financial inventory;
• read the graphic novels and comics from the library:
• X Gabrielle Bell, Everything is Flammable
• X Satoshi Kon, Opus
• X the three volumes of Naoki Urasawa's Monster (Perfect Edition) 
• X Mimi Pond, The Customer is Always Wrong (read the first volume)
• Alvaro Enrigue, Sudden Death
• 
  
•  

watch: MT: Girl's Generation 1979 (last 2 episodes)
Temperature of Love, 
WTh: Hospital Ship,
Age of Youth 2 (subbed/unsubbed)

also watched: DR Foster (BBC), Kekkon Shinai 

Sat Sept 23-29: this week's intentions

• bloom like this cactus!
• walk every day, at least 60 min.
• take inspiration from Shutterbean, who (like me) likes lists.
• laundry after trip
• wash floors
• get cash
• check credit card statements, bank stuff for fraud after alert
• calendar sync: paper/online end of Sept/October overview
• reply to Cindy
• Doctor's appointment or dermatologist?
• organize bookshelves: make reading list
• organize magazines: collage material
• change all passwords/ record
• finish will/legal docs (print, notarize, file)
• get rid of clothes I'm not wearing
• plan for Inktober! shop for pens
• kana practice: katakana at Crunchy Nihongo
• Japanese conversation: self-introductions
• hangul/Korean lesson: lyrics to a song
• watch list update: 
• S-S: Live Up to Your Name 13-14 X (dcool)
• S-S: Strongest Deliveryman 15-16 DF X
• M-T: Girls Generation 1979 5-6 viki X
• M-T: Temperature of Love 5-8 DF X
• W-Th: Hospital Ship 17-20 DF
• BTS comeback special (viki)X
• Age of Youth 2 subbed up to 8 X
• re-start paleo diet to try to figure out what's causing digestive and allergy issues X
• pantry inventory/restock
• menu planning
• grocery shopping