Five O'Clock Light
Jan. 11th, 2011 07:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mallorys_camera‘course now I’m sick as a drowned rat, coughing, sneezing, drowning in my own natural effluvia.
B brought me a digital screener of the Coen Brothers’ True Grit. Movie frankly underwhelmed. Central conceit of the novel always felt revisionist to me, namely that in the late 1860s, a smart 14 year old girl would seem precocious. In the late 1860s, a smart 14 year old might even be married and a mother: Adolescence didn’t exist then in the same sense that it exists now, as a kind of socio-cultural-economic holding tank.
Rueben only scored 3 out of 10 on his ESL Literacy test. Damn! I thought he’d do higher.
Joseph Campbell novel creeping along but my prose style is not very inspiring.
I fucking hate winter. Currently a well nigh tropical 18 degrees out. Six more inches of snow expected tonight.
Though I did notice something interesting yesterday – three weeks ago, on the longest night of the year, it was pitch black by 4:30 in the afternoon. But yesterday it was still light at 5, and three weeks from now it will be light at 6. I suppose the deal is that when spring finally comes under these conditions, you really appreciate it.
B brought me a digital screener of the Coen Brothers’ True Grit. Movie frankly underwhelmed. Central conceit of the novel always felt revisionist to me, namely that in the late 1860s, a smart 14 year old girl would seem precocious. In the late 1860s, a smart 14 year old might even be married and a mother: Adolescence didn’t exist then in the same sense that it exists now, as a kind of socio-cultural-economic holding tank.
Rueben only scored 3 out of 10 on his ESL Literacy test. Damn! I thought he’d do higher.
Joseph Campbell novel creeping along but my prose style is not very inspiring.
I fucking hate winter. Currently a well nigh tropical 18 degrees out. Six more inches of snow expected tonight.
Though I did notice something interesting yesterday – three weeks ago, on the longest night of the year, it was pitch black by 4:30 in the afternoon. But yesterday it was still light at 5, and three weeks from now it will be light at 6. I suppose the deal is that when spring finally comes under these conditions, you really appreciate it.
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Date: 2011-01-11 02:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-11 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-11 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-11 07:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-11 08:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-11 09:15 pm (UTC)He seems a bright enough kid. As far as I know he doesn't suffer from dyslexia, or have any kind of learning difficulties. He just failed some courses and wouldn't do the necessary summer school/remediation. I believe the time has long passed where he could complete his GED easily. I think he now has to go to community college and redo several modules that he has already completed. I think thats the deal.
One of my work colleagues has a kid who has real ADHD/learning/dyslexia issues. They managed to get him into a high school where no one fails, provided they can read (somewhat) in addition to turning up regularly. So I know the barrier to passing a GED is pretty low. Thats why I thought without this qualification it would be really tough for a young person to get any kind of job. I imagine he is in the same job market as 'off the books' day laborers?
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Date: 2011-01-11 09:26 pm (UTC)What's the kid doing? Living at at his parents' house? Great gig if you can get it. :-)
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Date: 2011-01-11 09:53 pm (UTC)The kid is indeed living with his parent...... I think he also has some kind of part time job that nets him a couple of hundred bucks a month (a very small fraction of rent/utilities/food).
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Date: 2011-01-12 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-12 01:45 am (UTC)none the less for a movie whose goal is to tell an entertaining story it's less important for it to be accurate or not. in a very real way, all movies are about us at the time when it was made. the cohen brothers movie i love so much 'a serious man' isn't so much about the 50s or even being jewish -- in as much as it is about our attempt to deal with a universe of indifference... 'mad men' isn't so much about the same era in as much as our romanticism of it... these are attitudes prevalent today. if they were not, these movies/shows would probably have never been funded or produced or even received in mainstream media.
shall we also talk about the possibilities involving a girl wandering around with strange men in this era having to service these men as part of payment? what about rape when she is alone with the murderer who killed her father? i dont think realism is the goal of 'true grit' in as much as it is a fantasy... just like how 'lord of the rings' is a true story. don't you think that what makes them relevant and true is the issues and affects both deal with -- and not the accuracy of a setting or characterization?
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Date: 2011-01-12 01:37 pm (UTC)Oh, I disagree. Reviews I've read generally touted hte flick for its realism, pointing out that this is actually somewhat atypical for a Coen Bros film. Happens that I've read the novel on which it's based, and it is very faithful to that novel.
as much as it is a fantasy
But every fantasy writer knows there are rules in fantasy. When you create a world, you have to stay true to those rules. With historical romance, of course, you don't build the world so much as inherit it -- but the same consistency is required.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-15 07:21 pm (UTC)