Before I start, a couple of important things: There’s a documentary airing on Monday on PBS called Unrest, about MECFS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). I hope you’ll watch it and pass the word on. Official blurb: “Jennifer Brea is working on her PhD at Harvard and about to marry the love of her life when… Read more »
movies
How I Got the Doctor Who News
Last week, I was by myself in Vermont, trying to make progress on the new book I’m writing. I had no cell or Internet access, except when I drove into town, which I didn’t do very often. Here’s a view of the meadow I could see as I wrote. One day, I drove into town… Read more »
January Cold Randutiae
A couple years ago, we had one of those winters that never really got started… hardly any snow, and the temperatures weirdly high. Spring came and I felt like I’d been cheated. That’s certainly not happening this year. And here in Cambridge, our frequent temps of 10 and 20°F (-12 and -7°C, approximately) are downright… Read more »
Oh, and out of respect for PL Travers –
I’ll just mention that Amy Nicholson’s essay in LA Weekly beautifully encapsulates why all the ads for the movie Saving Mr. Banks (which is about the making of the movie Mary Poppins) have been giving me the heebie-jeebies. Having read Nicholson’s essay, I now have even less interest in seeing the movie than I did… Read more »
Snowy Randutiae for a Sunday
Yesterday was one of those perfect winter days wherein the snow begins early in the day, but lightly – the five-flakes-per-minute variety – then slowly builds, and your own schedule brings you out into it while it’s beautiful but not yet gusty and difficult. I had a magical snow walk, then got home to a… Read more »
The Hungry Games Randutiae for a Sunday
I like the movie of Catching Fire SO much more than I liked the movie of The Hunger Games. (No spoilers here.) I’m happy about the directorial change to Francis Lawrence, who doesn’t rely on way too much shaky cam to create tension (which I blogged about when the first movie came out). I have… Read more »
The Inception Trailer Redubbed in A Cappella
I have many deep and meaningful thoughts to blog, but I’ve been too busy doing important things like eating a double-decker peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich while sitting in a kayak in the middle of a lake next to some loons. So this will have to do for now: have you seen/heard the a… Read more »
Bots High, Émile Zola, and yes, more 2CELLOS
I adore Bots High, which is a documentary about high school students in Miami building combat robots and competing in a national robotics competition. Incidentally, many, many of the robot engineers are girls. That’s only one of the reasons to watch — I love these kids, love their smarts, creativity, procrastination, anxiety, heart, the ways… Read more »
In Which the Author Discovers That Her Center Is Within Herself, Not Her Phone. Also, The Hobbit Movie
If it’s so easy for Gandalf to call on the aid of the eagles at any moment and in any location, why doesn’t he just do so right smack at the beginning of each of these difficult commutes and save everybody a lot of time, discomfort, injury and strife? The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was… Read more »
On Setting Things Free
I’ve been playing chess on my phone during work hours. Initially, I started to do this because the writing I’m doing is kicking my heart around the room and I can only bear to work on it in small doses; a game of chess every 90 minutes or so stabilizes me and brings me back… Read more »
