Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Skywalkers:A Love Story

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,

 while loving someone deeply gives you courage."

~Lao Tzu 

Love on top of the Empire State Building. Not quite Sleepless in Seattle, but I think it works for them! My husband proposed to me on a carnival ride in Santa Cruz. It was romantic. It was fun. But I suppose it's all in the eye of the beholder. Was this a stunt? Of course! Was it a guy who just wanted to propose like very few have ever done? Sure! Did it cost the fine tax payers of New York City a good bit of change? You bet! But what a cool thing to have tax dollars go to. However, I sincerely hope no one else tries this ever again. These people know what they are doing, they are the daredevils featured in the documentary, Skywalkers: A Love Story. I haven't seen this documentary yet, but I probably will this weekend. It like the idea of living your dreams with someone. I was lucky enough to. I mean, love conquers all. For this couple, love was in the air. Love means never having to say you're sorry. Whatever you call it, it was love, in a New York minute.

Watch the video above, read all about it here, and enjoy all the love and misdemeanors from the rooftop!

Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Working Girl

 

"Sometimes I sing and dance around in my underwear,

 doesn't make me Madonna... never will."

~Cyn (Joan Cusack)

Working Girl

"Let the river run, let all the dreamers wake the nation,

come the new Jerusalem."

The opening credits to, Working Girl, was filmed on a clear morning, in the city of Manhattan, as the sun rose above the Statue of Liberty, and the World Trade Center. Carly Simon sings it's theme, Let The River Run, and we see all those folks arriving to work in lower Manhattan. Wall Street, The World Trade Center stick in my mind, and give me chills when I think about how that must have been like on 9/11. Folks arriving at work to face another day of challenges. It's a strangely beautiful opening, but there is that bit of surreal that definitely reminds you about how life can change in the blink of an eye.

That aside, Working Girl, is a terrific movie, that reminds you that hard work, being able to adapt and take chances can pay off. Whether you are one of those folks who gets up early, heads to work at the crack of dawn, or an old lady like me, who is still finding ways to face every day, that lesson still applies. Hard work pays. Going out on that limb pays. I love Tess McGill's tenacity. I love her wit. And I love that she can stand up for herself, and that when she sets boundaries, she means it! Tess paid her dues, she endures one "sleazoid" boss after another, and being looked down on as a secretary, as she works her way up the ladder in the world of corporations and finance. 

Sigourney Weaver is delightfully nasty as, Katherine Parker, and Harrison Ford is the too good to be true, Jack Trainer. Joan Cusack is fantastic as Cyn, Tess's best friend, who gives Tess the best advice she'll ever get, and Alec Baldwin is perfect as Tess's one thought boyfriend, Mick. This is another  movie with a superior cast including, Olympia Dukakis, Oliver Platt, Nora Dunn, and Kevin Spacey as a sleazoid friend of her sleazoid boss, Lutz, and yet another potentially new sleazoid boss, which is perfect casting because, you know, doing sleazoid is what Spacey does best! If you look close, during Tess's birthday party scenes, you will spot David Duchovny in his first movie!

This film came out in 1988, so I can't believe you haven't seen it, but if you haven't I don't want to give to much of the story away. Watch it. You'll enjoy it. 

Ellipsis Movie Of The Week... Conspiracy Theory

 

"What do we know? If I know what we know,

 then I could tell you what we know, and if anyone else knows!"

~Jerry Fletcher

(Mel Gibson)

Conspiracy Theory

1997

Jerry Fletcher is crazy! Or is he? Yes, Yes, I know it's a Mel Gibson movie, and I do, of course agree with you, he's horrible, but it's also a Julia Roberts movie, and she's kinda amazing, don't you think? Plus the story is one fun ride, and I don't think I want a common racist and Trump boot licker dictating what I can enjoy. Come for the art, stay for the artists who work really hard to make the art great! Anyway, about the film. It's from 1997, and it takes a good hard look at the viability and dangers of conspiracy theories in general. Once again it's a movie who walks the line on whether or not some theories might sometimes be accurate, but ignored because lets face it, about 99.9% are total bullshit! But this movie is worth watching. Jerry Fletcher goes on quite an odyssey, and along for the ride is Alice Sutton, an employee with the Justice department, who Jerry is in love with from afar. The theory pulls her in and eventually makes her a reluctant partner but, as it turns out, she has a lot riding on it also. It's a good movie that will make your head spin, and is much more than a movie that dick is in.  It's well worth a watch.

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #22

 

"The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings."

~Kathleen Kelly To Joe Fox in an email.

You've Got Mail

You've Got Mail, is another movie with a loose association with Christmas, but a sentimental one all the same. It is basically a remake of, Shop Around The Corner, but updated to reflect the ins and outs of the love in the computer age. The three little words, you've got mail, which used to tell you when your email had arrived to your inbox, always made me smile. It was fun. Then one day, AOL lost it's damn mind and began to shut everything down, and turn itself into a giant generic billboard. Gone were the AOL Journals, eventually they removed the chat rooms, and so much more that made it the place to be. It was a sad turn of events, but I will always love AOL services for the friends I made, some of which are still friends of mine today! Hi, Karen, Patrick and Kat! Oh well, the AOL of yesteryear, featured in this movie, reminds us how lovely life could be in the 90's, and that was a good thing, I don't know, I suppose it'd merely quaint by today's standards, but it worked for my generation. The love in this movie, which is actually realized some point after New Years Eve, is a great movie to just feel the romance of true love, and the love of times gone by! All that was from my memories, but Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox, have another story to tell. So, sit back, grab your Starbuck's coffee, or homemade Keurig pod, and watch life and love in 1998! And enjoy the autumn holidays, that are portrayed in this film so beautifully. 

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #19

 

"I'm a cotton headed ninny muggins!"

~Buddy the Elf

ELF

Oh my, just try to not fall in love with Buddy the Elf! This is a great movie for the family, it's rated PG, and there is something for everyone. Gather around and watch it on Christmas eve! 

"I thought maybe we could make gingerbread houses, 

and eat cookie dough, and go ice skating... and maybe even hold hands."

~Buddy

Ellipsis Christmas Movie Countdown #10

 

"When Love Feels Like Magic, It's Called Destiny.

 When Destiny Has A Sense Of Humor, It's Called Serendipity."

Serendipity

Movie Tagline

It's time for a little romance, right? Well, this movie definitely fits the bill! John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale are mesmerizing! Curl up with your favorite person, or pet, and just enjoy the love and chemistry between these two actors. This movie will make you believe in magic, and destiny!

 Oh, yeah also serendipity!

An Asshole And His Money And The Met Gala

 

 

“For many years I’ve said that if someone screws you, screw them back,” she read from a book by Mr. Trump. It continued: “When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and as violently as you can. Like it says in the Bible, an eye for an eye.”

 

~ Donald Trump

 

New York Times Continuing Coverage

 

His books don't teach you how to make money. They teach you how to screw people. Name one person who has became a millionaire, or billionaire, based on the advice he gives in any of his books! In fact, some folks, in multiple states lost a great deal of money, after they attend the courses offered in Trump's fake, Trump University. A "university" that was deemed a fraud in federal court. He was ordered to pay his victims $25 million dollar settlement. 

Stormy Daniels took the stand today. I can't bring myself to speak in words other than... FUCK YOU, DONALD TRUMP! His is a liar,  a hypocrite, and many other things, just ask E. Jean Carroll. He slept with Stormy, and paid her off just before the election to Hillary Clinton. He slept with Karen McDougal, and paid her off. I will never forgive him for his cruelty during that election season. He couldn't run on policy, or the vision he had for making America it's best self, he ran on cruelty, a condition his magats adopted as their guide to getting what they want, with NO regard for anyone else's right, or vision. So far all they got for their support of Trump, was a jail cell after January 6th. But all this time later he is right back up in the polls, and he has a really good chance at being elected and, of course, the cruelty continues.

You know what? Fuck it! 

Lets talk about the Met Gala.

 

Demi Moore in Balenciaga.

Perfection. 

That's right I did it, I went to my happy place.

 

Shut Up, You Big Fat Baby!

 

"There is such a thing as tempting the gods. Talking too much, too soon and with too much self-satisfaction has always seemed to me a sure way to court disaster. The forces of retribution are always listening. They never sleep."

~Meg Greenfield

Finally, someone stuck a sock in his big fat mouth! What did he do to deserve it? During a break from his New York fraud trial, he posted a picture to his Truth Social account, of the court clerk, that was taken of her and Sen. Chuck Schumer and a democratic fundraiser, implying that she was some sort of partisan plant for the democratic party, and Schumer's girlfriend. Which, as you might guess, is a complete lie. Read all about it in the New York Times here.

Thank you, Judge Engoron!

 

 

 

Saying Goodbye... 9/11 Twenty Years Later

 "It has been said, 'time heals all wounds." I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting it's sanity, covers them with scar tissue, and the pain lessens. But it's never gone."

~Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

I have considered ending my 9/11 tributes over the years. Not because I have forgotten about what happened that day, and who it happened to, but because after 20 years perhaps it's time to not take back the grief yearly, like it sits on a shelf, waiting to be recognized. That's not how grief works. So, how does one celebrate a life? David and Lynn Angell were wonderful people. As was Marisa DiNardo Schorpp, who fell to her death, from the World Trade Center, on that horrible day. I feel like I got to know them, through my research. I only came to know about Marisa in recent years, but she left an impression me, on 9/11, that stayed with me to this day. She was in a window, along with others, begging for help as fire burned behind her. She was wearing a beautiful black skirt and white blouse. Classic. I felt so bad for years, that there was no way to say goodbye to know of her life, or to say goodbye to her, then one day while watching a documentary about 9/11, a man described seeing her fall to her death. She was identified years later, after her purse was discovered among the personal effects of the victims.

 

 Her name was Marisa, and she had lovely taste.

 

Anyway, this is my last 9/11 tribute post. It's been twenty years, and honestly, the new world I thought would be carved from grief and new understanding of our kinship as Americans never came to pass. We have all but forgotten what happened all those years ago, and we, Americans, don't stand up for each other, instead we push nationalist agendas out of cowardice and selfish need to put ourselves first, as if what happens to our neighbor doesn't happen to us. Americans unite in times of trouble? That's as silly a notion at this point as reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Sigh. I really thought we would be in a different place by this time, but sadly, we aren't, and it will be at least another generation before we can hope to see the idea of an America that lives up to that ideal. At my age, I am unsure if I will ever see the idea of brotherhood in America, let alone the ideal itself. Its sad. I was hoping that from the ashes, an American Phoenix would arise. Sadly, we can keep honoring the victims, but if it's just to show the world how much we remember, we are stepping on the very lives we can never properly repay, or truly honor. Next year, I will reflect on these three extraordinary people, but in my own way, and to myself.

Rest In Peace... David, Lynn And Marisa

Art About Town: San Francisco... "La Chiffonniere" By Jean DuBuffet

"Every night I cuddle with a blob of unbaked clay

 I fashioned in the shape of a woman.

 But that's what being in love is all about."

~Jarod Kintz

This Is The Best Book I've Ever Written, And It Still Sucks

I can't seem to get the perfect photo of this particular sculpture. I have tried different times of day, and different cameras, but for some reason I am never happy with the outcome. It is such an interesting piece. Sometimes I look at it, and I think it's imposing, other times I see a gentle giant. Sometimes I smile, sometimes I don't like to go near it. Is it an alien? Is it a warrior? All I do know is, it inspires me, and it always captures my imagination. It makes me think about what interesting adventures that could happen in it's universe... and I wonder... when the Embarcadero Center is dark and quiet in the middle of the night, does La Chiffonniere leave her place and move about San Francisco saving sleeping citizens from all kinds of terror or turmoil? The artist saw her simply as a woman dressed in rags, but I see something different. I see a woman who might be dressed in rags, but who carries great empowerment! Look, her head is held high, and she stands straight!

She is WOMAN!

Maybe I am never happy with my photos of her, because photographs simply don't do her justice!

So tell me, what do you think of when you look at La Chiffonniere?

Public Art Fund NYC: La Chiffonniere (Temporary Installation)

Art And Architecture San Francisco

Leaf Of The Day

Mood: Happy

~Me :)

What Constitutes A Hero?

"As you get older, it's harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary."

-Ernest Hemingway

Well, I am officially back from my 3 week vacation, and ready to tackle yet another issue that's been on my mind. What constitutes a hero? I ask this because of an article I read online yesterday in the New York Post. It seems there was a retired New York City detective, James Zadroga, who worked at ground zero, for over 400 hours to be exact, as a New Jersey ME. During that time, he was susceptible to inhaling all of the toxins that was associated with the collapse of the twin towers. Zadroga died in 2006, but the official medical examiner's report, which was released in early October, indicated that Zadroga's death was a direct result of the misuse of prescription medication. Medication which had been apparently prescribed to him, because of the work he did at Ground Zero. So, according to the current New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, science has showed, "this was not a hero."

So, tell me, when you think of what a hero is, what comes to mind? Is a hero someone who puts the safety of others above their own well being? Is it the sports figure who has an unbeatable record of play, and still tests negative for performance enhancing drugs? Is every soldier in the military a hero, even if they have been suspected of wrongdoing? Is a hero the guy who jumps to the aide of a stranger who has just fallen from a subway platform, to shield that stranger from an oncoming train? Is it a father, who runs into a neighbor's house that is on fire, to save the family inside, while not stopping to think of his own mortality?

If you have been reading Ellipsis for a while, you probably know that my father did just that. One August night, in 1968, my father and his carpool friends, turned the corner onto our street, to see our neighbors house fully engulfed in flames. I will never forget dad running in and out, carrying the unconscious bodies of my friends and their mother. I was sure dad was going to die... but instead he, and his buddies, saved their lives. Dad was a lot of things. He could be and was quite abusive, both mentally and physically, but on that night he was very simply one of four heroes. Let me tell you, it's a complex thing to consider when I think of dad, and all that he was in my life. All the bad stuff between us has long since been dealt with and forgotten by me, but I continue to have nightmares about that night, and the sight of him running into that house.

I expect that most heroes have complex lives. As far as I know, most heroes are also human beings. Humans make mistakes, sometimes big ones, but mistakes all the same. So, if most heroes are humans, what exactly do we look for in the ideal of a hero? Do they have a certain way they must have lived their entire lives, or face losing their hero worship? Do they have to die while aiding another, to truly be called a hero? Can they have a flawed past, and should their future be up to judgement? Is it possible that the word hero actually has very little meaning? Or does it really mean everything? Can it be like how I have come think of my father, a deeply flawed human being, who also knew when and where to do the right thing?

Sometimes I wonder, when some previously held hero falls from grace, what we had really expected of them to begin with. We put pressure on athletes to out preform the next guy, and then gasp in horror when it is discovered that they have cheated to reach their goals. We seem to have a hero for everything from sports figures to teachers, to military personal to pop stars. Anytime we want to feel better about being America we hold another person up to the light we create for them, and then look away when their humanity becomes inconvenient. I happen to think Mayor Bloomberg was wrong in his assessment of James Zadroga, because no matter what else happened in his life, there is 400 hours of selflessness that he gave to New York City, that simply cannot be denied.

Opinions, opinions. Who do you consider to be heroes? Do you have a personal hero in your life? Tell me what you think.

-OndineMonet
"Yellow Ribbon Trees"
Carson City, Nevada
October 24th, 2007
Late Morning