2night the Indian filmmaker Onir was on campus, presenting his pioneering 2004 film, "My Brother Nikhil," the first major movie from the subcontinent to focus on HIV/AIDs and male homosexuality. Sensitive, compassionate, tasteful - skilled filmmaking. It was Onir's first feature-length film, and presages a very promising career in the making. I admire films that consciously strive to educate and inform their audiences, particularly when they do so with artistry and restraint.
Set in Goa, "My Brother Nikhil" is based on a real incident by which the first prominent Indian to contract HIV/AIDS was kept in an isolation ward for three months before public pressure was sufficient to force the authorities to release him. It was moderately Bollywood - with some musical interludes - but more realistic and sober than most Bollywood films that I've seen. On a modest budget. Rather at the level of a superior "cable network" film in the US, I would say.
This was a program that had been planned and arranged by Dr. B., who was a tireless promoter of global diversity and raising awareness of HIV education around the world.
Nashini and I went out with Onir and a group for dinner afterwards at the hotel pub. I asked the filmmaker what his original inspiration was to become a director. Interesting response. He actually grew up in Bhutan, where films were a rare treat, but as a boy he remembered being taken to see the George Cukor version of "David Copperfield". He that the Dickens adaptation - with its iconic images - triggered his lifelong passion to bring powerful stories to the screen. So it goes!
Not much of an "all hallow's eve" this year - I was taking tickets at the Haunted Theatre on Saturday, and while I did see some inventive costumes, it was a lot of "de trop, de trop."
Sad to hear over the weekend of the passing of DLL. He was one of the great inebriabors of Iron Harbor, 'tis true. I remember some evenings on the 6th floor. . . He was only 43, said the obit, sad to say - I think it was HIV related. The local paper mentioned numerous musical comedy appearances, locally and nationally. My favorite memory of DLL was from a production of "Little Shop of Horrors" at the theatre in Pioneer: he was a ghoulish Dr. Scrivello.
It really has been a year of Death for me.
Then we were all surprised on Monday morning to hear that Professor B had died in Phoenix. Just sixty. I had thought she was in Turkey on a Fulbright, but actually she had gone to Arizona to receive homeopathic treatment for colon cancer. I was momentarily left speechless, if you can believe that. So last night I went out to the Pub with Marnie, Nashini and Jack, and we all shared our favorite Dr. B stories. It was our little candle in the wind.
Went to the memorial service this morning of John Burt, an Iron Harbor native who served as Episcopal Bishop of Ohio from 1967 to 1984. He was committed to social justice, ecumenism, improved Christian-Jewish relations, the increased participation of women in the Church, and progressive causes in general. I remember him telling stories about his involvement in the Civil Rights movement both in Ohio and earlier in 1960s California. While he was the rector at All Saint's Church in Pasadena CA, he helped to organize a rally for Dr. M.L. King that was attended by 35,000 supporters. I got to know Bishop Burt back when I first moved to Iron Harbor in the early 1990s. He and his wife Martha had retired here to a beautiful but modest house on the lakeshore, where I was their guest on a few occasions. I worked with him on our church Adult Education committee, and remember fondly his warmth, hospitality, and sympathy.
Book Group last night. Subject: Tim O'Brien's Vietnam War collection "The Things They Carried." More a set of interlocking short stories than a concerted novel, I liked it for its terseness and its tenseness. Polarizing responses in our group: one young man said that he hated it, that he thought the method of storytelling was annoying, that in general the Vietnam era is "meaningless" to his 21st century generation. In contrast, an older man in our group said that as a Vietnam Vet himself, the book is for him one of the most relevant and cogent testimonies from the war. The good thing about Book Group is that both evaluations are valid; there are no "right" or "wrong" responses in our circle.
"The Things They Carried" was Iron Harbor's "Community Read" this year. A good choice, I think. Author O'Brien (who lives in Minnesota) came here earlier in October and spoke to a large audience (of 900) at the University. I was busy that night and not able to attend, but I'm glad that this year's "read" was a success.
The house in Prairie Village where my family lived between 1973 and 1991. Unfortunately no one was home yesterday afternoon - my Dad wanted to go inside to check how the place is looking there days, and we all wanted to take a look at the back yard. Growing nephews Ryan and Zack Three generations Father and sons
I'm down in Kansas for a quick weekend visit - family birthdays, etc. Flew down Thursday afternoon after class, and will return to Mich. tomorrow evening. Colors this year are very striking, deeper and richer than they usually are in this part of the country. I met up with Don - the Professor Don of Kansas City, not AV Don of Iron Harbor. Unfortunately Martina was busy at the Linda Hall Library where she works, but Prof. Don entertained me with details of his forthcoming "work" trips to Singapore and Barcelona; really it's a good thing that I don't have an envious bone in my body. We talked wine and beer, too, and shared a bottle of one of Boulevard Brewing Company's excellent "Smokestack Series" high-end products, a delicious "Seeyoulator Dobbelbock.
Then to lunch at Room 39: highly recommended! Don had breaded scallops with braised cabbage, I enjoyed spaghetti carbonara. Charming little cafe.
Went to another good beer event here last night - a Bell's Brewery tasting at the Rosewood Inn. They were featuring several of their seasonal favorites, along with old favorites like Oberon and Third Coast Ales. What I like about Bell's is that they have always liked to create beers that leave a big impression, and not just with hopiness.
It's also impressive to me that the brewery bears the name of its founder - Larry Bell - there's no hiding behind a regional moniker. Mr. Bell was actually the host of the event last night, and I was glad to have the chance to say a few words to him. It's kind of a long drive to come up to Iron Harbor from Kalamazoo (where Bell's is based), so I wanted to go out and thank the chap for coming up and meeting some of his customers in the U.P.
Larry Bell started out in 1983 with a home-brewing supply company. He started selling his own beer in 1985, and now he owns one of the largest regional breweries in the Midwest.
Elizabeth and Don joined me at the Rosewood. They're a nice young couple. I hope that they can make a "go" at staying here in Iron Harbor. Elizabeth has an MFA (from the Savannah College of Art & Design) and would like to get a job at the Uni, but the Art Department isn't hiring right now. In the meantime, she's working with Rikke at the Arts & Culture Center. Don lost his job last month, but is continuing to do independent contract work in AV design - which I hear is quite remunerative.
I remember watching several episodes of the classic 1970s science series "Connections". James Burke demonstrated how topics and ideas and inventions from different centuries, places, and environments were connected by unexpected links. Kind of an intellectual "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon."
I like to do the same sort of thing, except with cultural figures from history and social gossip. For example, I can link tragic hero Captain Scott of Antarctic with baseball legend "Joltin' Joe" DiMaggio in just seven "connections." It's really quite easy. Captain Robert Scott (1868-1912) died with four of his comrades on his ill-fated second Antarctic expedition. He was the father of Sir Peter Scott (1909-1989), British ornithologist and conservationalist, and winner of a bronze medal in sailing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Sir Peter was the first husband of English novelist and beauty Elizabeth Jane Howard.(born in 1923). Howard's third husband was Kingsley Amis, but that's not the connection I'm following. For several years in the late 1940s, Howard was the lover of Irish-born poet Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972). Cecil Day Lewis was of course the father of double Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day Lewis. (born 1957) Daniel, meanwhile, is married to the screenwriter and director Rebecca Miller (born 1962), who is the daughter of "All My Son"/"The Crucible" playwright Arthur Miller (1915-2005). Arthur's second wife was the legendary Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) - it was her third marriage. Number two for Marilyn was slugger Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999). And that's how to get from Scott of the Antarctic to Joe DiMaggio in seven steps.
"I'm the best... There's no way I'm going down. I don't go down for nobody."
Indeed. A haunting pairing of black and white cinematography (Michael Chapman) with the aching Intermezzo from "Cavalleria Rusticana" (Pietro Mascagni).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Sunday morning I went to the "forty days" memorial for Jimmy the Greek's father. Jimmy described it as a kind of funeral for the soul of the deceased. After the service, we gathered in the church basement for coffee and raisin-filled pastries. Jimmy is looking better these days, more rested and with a clearer complexion. His mother is heading out to Arizona for a month to stay with relatives there, so he will be working on some renovations at the family house in her absence. I volunteered to help him with fabric choices. Hey!
This past weekend I watched "The Age of Innocence," Martin Scorsese's 1993 adaptation of the classic "Gilded Age" novel. I hadn't seen it since its first release 15 years ago. I liked it quite a lot at the time. Very restrained, tense, subdued. At first, the director of "Goodfellas" and "Raging Bull" might not seem like a natural partner for Edith Wharton, but I thought that the two social observers were really quite well suited for one another. "The Age of Innocence" is very much a New York piece, and Scorsese is certainly the king of New York movies. (Woody Allen is in the court, too; I just don't think he's in the royal family.)
"The Age of Innocence" captures the glittering banality of the lives of the social elite - which I dare say has probably not changed much in 130 years. Scorsese brilliantly captures the material details of Fifth Avenue mansions: banks of flowers, fragile fine china, hordes of bric-a-brac, things things things.
Daniel Day-Lewis is excellent in the film as the repressed and unhappy Newland Archer. Duh. And his soft American accent is very believable. Is there anything that Day-Lewis can't do?
Michelle Pfeiffer had a good look going on in the film, but I don't think she was the right person cast for Countess Olenska. I didn't think she was sophisticated (in a moderately Euro-trash manner) enough.
But Winona Ryder gives a brilliantly subtle and scary portrayal of a manipulatively sweet young American schemer who traps Archer in a loveless marriage. I've known plenty of people like that (not to mention any names - like JDA). I know that some people criticized Scorsese in this film for relying so heavily on an "outside narrator" to express Edith Wharton's sardonic commentary. But I love Joanne Woodward's voice - she's perfect. I wonder if I could get an entire "book-on-tape" of Miss Woodward reading "The Age of Innocence" - or some other Wharton novel?
Here's a little trivia question about "The Age of Innocence": What popular 19th century opera is featured in the opening AND closing scenes of the movie? It certainly fits the theme of the film, which is essentially about people who have lost their souls in pursuit of material prosperity.
2night the Indian filmmaker Onir was on campus, presenting his pioneering 2004 film, "My Brother Nikhil," the first major movie from the subcontinent to focus on HIV/AIDs and male homosexuality. Sensitive, compassionate, tasteful - skilled filmmaking. It was Onir's first feature-length film, and presages a very promising career in the making. I admire films that consciously strive to educate and inform their audiences, particularly when they do so with artistry and restraint.
WIDGETIZE