Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Blog

Gus McCrae speaks.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

From here:

Actor Robert Duvall claimed to have known about Palin all along. At the New Mexico event, he was on hand to cheer on the new political couple.

"About a year ago I first saw this wonderful woman speak," the veteran of "Lonesome Dove" and the "Godfather" movies said. "I didn't know who it was. And I said who is this woman? And a year later, I said to myself about three or four weeks ago, why isn't she up for the vice presidency?

Lonesome Dove is only behind Pride and Prejudice as far as a fabulous way to spend six hours in front of the TV.

I still tear up thinking about Gus dying.

Labels: celebrities, movies, politics

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

30-second bunnies and one-minute movies.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

My friend Naomi showed me this web site, where cartoon bunnies do 30-second reenactments of films. It sure is a lot cheaper than going to the theater, and I find I can get a lot of films squeezed into the time I have in the day. I'm finding it as useful as Book-A-Minute Bedtime. And of course, Movie-A-Minute is useful, though, theoretically (but not in reality), 30 seconds longer than the bunny reenactments.

Labels: links, movies

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Movies: Becoming Jane.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

After tonight's run/walk, I came back to my room, cleaned up, and decided to finally watch Becoming Jane, a DVD I'd bought a couple of months ago but hadn't gotten around to viewing. That has surprised me, since I'm such a Jane Austen fanatic, and have practically worn out the discs for all the other movie adaptations of her books. I think I've given away my paperback copies of Pride and Prejudice.

I'm such an easy cry when it comes to movies. As is typical, I bawled my eyes out several times while watching this film.

I'm sure going to miss my eyes.

James McAvoy is, like his character in Atonement (a movie I never care to see again but probably will because I can't stay away from depressing endings) intense with a way of expressing inner battles by facial expressions.

The movie is one of those wonderful, richly orchestrated (in both music and direction) period pieces that seem to emerge from across the pond. While I know some Jane Austen purists had a fit on how the film tried to tie Jane's "real life" story into the books she later wrote, I appreciated the few bits and pieces that I recognized emerging from dialog or scenes. Though I realize the story isn't entirely "accurate" as far as it being a biography of the real Jane Austen, I really appreciated the message. Particularly how Jane was depicted, and how, in the end, she didn't capitulate, and instead, relied upon herself to make her way (in her case, by writing). She's not as perfectly tough and witty as Elizabeth Bennett, but is, instead, more real and wavering.

A fine movie. Have tissues handy. And get yourself a copy of Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice (the 6-hour version as well as the recent theatrical release), Mansfield Park, Emma, et. al.

Labels: movies

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

The day that was Saturday.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 9 comments link this post

Saturday was a good day.

The season of playing music at weddings was behind me, and a month of focusing on flying lessons loomed. I had breakfast with my parents and brother's family before the left for home (they were up for my niece's wedding).

I then headed up to the capitol for the art fair: A Capitol A'Fair. It was decent, but, like most art fairs, you have to go through 80 percent sameness (many booths of bead jewelry, for example, or wood craft items or fleece blankets) to find the truly unique things. I did find some unique items, though, and got a few as Christmas presents for my sister and friends. I avoided the cheese curds, though they called out temptingly. I finally succumbed to the Coldstone Creamery cart and bought some completely unhealthy ice cream. I then sat in the grass and listened to Cottonwood, a local bluegrass band of excellent quality.

Later that afternoon, I met Troy Sterling Nies in person at the Barnes and Noble cafe. Earlier this year I featured an email interview with him on this blog, and it was nice to put a face to the email conversation. We talked about music, movies, art in North Dakota -- all things I haven't had a good conversation on for a while -- for over three hours. Being in a bookstore meant we capped it all off with recommending books. I, of course, recommended A Canticle for Leibowitz, which I still can't get over. Nies gave me a copy of The Dunwich Horror, a radio play on CD that he provided the soundtrack and sound effects to, which is full of fabulous ephemera (maps, clippings) that I can't stop going over. I've not listened to the radio play, yet, but I'm working up to the "right time" to do it. I was thrilled to get a copy of it. It was a great afternoon of conversation, and I enjoyed it very much.

I then went to see the new X-Files movie, which was not what I expected, but pleasantly surprised me. I liked it, though, as I've told a few people who asked what I thought about it, I found it to be less about the X-Files and more a character study of Scully and Mulder.

In fact, the only bummer of the day was that I realized too late that Jeff Dunham was at the Civic Center that night and I missed it. (Dunham, of "Achmed the Dead Terrorist" fame). I wondered why there were piles of people and cars around the Civic Center and spilling over into the mall parking lot, and now I know. Sniff. The day before, after the wedding, my nephew and I were rephrasing Achmed's lines for the situation at hand, and getting plenty of laughs out of each other.

It would have been funny to see Dunham. I am that lame. Puppets kill me. Which is appropriate, since Achmed wants to basically kill you. I see that Alice Cooper* will be at the Civic Center tomorrow night but...not really my thing.

Otherwise, despite the last little bit, it was a great day of family, new friends, and film.

* Now if it were Led Zeppelin...

Labels: friends, movies, my life

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Indiana.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I finally saw the latest Indiana Jones movie.

You were right.

You told me so.

Bummer.

Labels: movies

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Look up at the good parts.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I read my friend Sarah's blog post with slight amusement, only because I know her and because the two lists she ends up making in the post are spot-on.

Bar hopping.
Cigarette smoke.
Chit-chat.
Kill me now.

Sarah and I used to hang out in college. We'd spend at least one afternoon/evening a week at Sarah's house watching Pride and Prejudice (the six-hour version), she working on her zinc plates for printmaking, and I drawing in my sketchbook. We'd watched that movie so much that it would just sort of run in the background, memorized, and then we'd both look up, almost synchronized, at "the good parts."

The funny lines. ("Let's hear no more of his partners! Would he had sprained his ankle in the first dance!")

The dance scenes.

The witty barbs from Miss Elizabeth Bennett.

Anything with Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth).

That was what a wild, fun and crazy evening was for me. I can't speak for Sarah, but I haven't changed much. An evening out at a restaurant with anyone short of close friends sounds like torture. It had better, at the end, at least include desert, preferably cake*.

I don't know.

I feel like keeping on doing what I keep on doing in life, and only looking up for the good parts.

* I. Love. Cake. I do.

Labels: friends, movies, my life, relationships

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Atonement for the typewriter.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 4 comments link this post

My mother has a typewriter.

Non-electric.

Weighs a ton, and my fingers are too computer-keyboard weakened to make much of a mark on the paper with the heavy keys.

I always felt sad when I drove by the shop in downtown Fargo that had the sign "typewriter repair" in the window. I wondered how it was going, and imagined it was either remarkably bad, or remarkably well (being one of a dying breed). I have no idea if the store is still there.

In honor of the film Atonement (which depressed me to no end, like The English Patient*), I thought I'd share three photos from a series I took of a typewriter. I'm listening to the soundtrack now.

The soundtrack to Atonement has the typewriter mingled with the rest of the orchestration as its own percussive instrument. Highly unusual. If you've seen the movie, you remember the whys of this, and how well it was carried out in the music. There's just something about that snapping sound of a typewriter that I miss.

I'm old enough that I learned to type (not "keyboard") in high school on actual typewriters. Granted, they were electric, but they were still pre-computer. I learned terms such as pica and how to manually center text and what to do when the daisy wheel went amuck.

Good times.

Anyway, here are two more photos: Photo 2 | Photo 3

* Oddly, there are two distinctive passages in the Atonement soundtrack that are highly reminiscent of The English Patient. I always find it jarring when I realize that about a soundtrack. For example, in The Passion of the Christ, there is a chunk of music that sounds like it is from Glory. Go figure.

Labels: movies, music, my life, technology

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Cloverfield.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

Sometimes I stumble into weird things. After seeing the movie Cloverfield (you know I love monster movies), I wanted to know if the monster came from the sea or from space. That's it. I didn't really care to know what happened to the characters or what happened next; I just wanted to know where it came from.

In the process of searching, I realized that there is a whole fictitious clamor around the film. I, never having seen the TV show Lost, understand that its creator J. J. Abrams (who produced Cloverfield) tends to build up these kinds of modern myths that wrap people up in the game of trying to figure out what he provides clues for. The closest I've come to being weirdly obsessed with something like that would be the game Myst, almost ten years ago. I was a fan of Abrams' Alias show for a few seasons until it just got really dumb and uninteresting.

As it is, with the ease of putting up web sites on the internet that seem legitimate, there are fake corportations, fake missing persons...unbelievable. Viral and creative marketing at its best.

In a time-wasting way, it's interesting. But I don't have the time to waste, nor the extra energy to expend. And, nothing serves as a reminder to get a grip like visiting a forum where people are freaking out and "screaming" at each other over incorrect "facts" for something that isn't real, like Cloverfield. There is a serious amount of devotion to this new story that has sucked people in. Odd.

You know -- it's an interesting movie. Pretty good as far as monster movies go. But I'm not going to do more than a simple Google search to find out where the monster came from. I certainly have no plans on writing a thesis on the story, or taking the inevitable college class that, in a few years, will pop on some campus discussing the film and what it means to society.

Joseph Campbell was right: myths are powerful. And, I might add, distracting.

Pretty good movie, though. Interesting concepts, camera work (hand-held camera feel), special effects. I liked it. Not enough to devote my free time or life to it, however.

Here's the (now old) trailer for kicks and giggles.

Links:

Labels: movies, video

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Battle of personal theme songs.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 2 comments link this post

At work, I began humming my own personal theme song, "Sleigh Ride."

Anna then began humming the "Raider's March" from the Indiana Jones' movies.

"I can't wait for that movie to come out," I said*.

We discussed when it would come out. Then, I told her of the Indiana Jones triple feature I went to during my college days.

"It was at the Fargo Theater, and started at 6 p.m. For $2 each film, I watched all three movies in order. It was awesome! I'd never seen the first two in a theater before that!" I was excited just recalling the moment.

"The second movie wasn't very good. It lacked continuity," Anna said, efficiently throwing a wet blanket on my enthusiasm. I narrowed my eyes.

"So? The point was, is that I got to see all three films one after another. Six hours of Indiana Jones."

"I didn't like the second one."

Harrumph.

"I'm going to tie you to a post, prop open your eyes**, and open the Ark of the Covenant and make you watch," I snapped.

It devolved into us bickering about the age of Harrison Ford and his ability to do stunts and the use of stunt men, and finally, me humming "Sleigh Ride" louder, trying to drown out her effort at humming the "Raider's March."

Bah.

*A rough recall of actual conversation.

**Taking a page from A Clockwork Orange

Labels: friends, movies, work

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Highly useful movie critiques.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

Movies I've seen recently that were not good:

The Ruins -- rated "not good" on a disturbing "I'm not looking tell me when it's over!" factor.
The Mist -- rated "not good" because the ending is awful and I'm tired of Stephen King's staple "lunatic Christian" character.
Art School Confidential -- I so wanted this to be good because the previews looked good but, sadly, it was "not good."
Atonement -- Everything about it was good except how rotten and sad I felt when it was over, so I'm going to go with a "not good" for this one.
Resident Evil: Extinction -- The first one was good. The second not bad. The third? Not good.

Movies I've seen recently that were good:

Things We Lost In The Fire -- rated "good" because it was.
10,000 B.C. -- rated "good" because it was fun, exciting, and the classic (albeit predictable, which isn't always bad) hero story. Plus, the theater had really good popcorn that day.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Labels: movies

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Smokin' monologues.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Eve Ensler has nothing on Tom Marinaro.

Marinaro, owner of Tank's Bar in Babbit, Minnesota, tried to get around the smoking ban by having theater nights at his bar. Minnesota's smoking ban allows for smoking in theater productions by actors and actresses. So, like other bars trying to utilize that loophole, Marinaro began holding "Gunsmoke Monologues" starting at 3 p.m. daily.

He got a citation for it.

Now we have some court time.

But think of it.

Gunsmoke Monologues.

Lots of pun fun there.

For some reason, the first thing that came to mind when I heard this story was the scene from "The Blues Brothers" (one of the top all-time funniest movies ever made, in my opinion) where they sing the theme from the TV show Rawhide. Not Gunsmoke, but still funny.

Labels: current events, movies, video

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Being Fanny Price.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

The ideal heroine is Elizabeth Bennett, of course, but whenever I read the book or watched the films I always felt that out of all of Jane Austen's wonderful heroines, I was most like...the servants in the background. I'm not kidding. I really, really think that asking "if I were in that story which main character would I be" is a deceptive question. Who said we'd be the main characters?

"See that guy in the back, leading the horses into the stable? That's me. If Mr. Darcy would just step to the side, you could see me better."

I can identify.

One reason I liked the movie Gosford Park was that it gave me a view of the world of the servants which I knew, had I really lived in some previous era, would be my lot in life. I would be a servant person. The one who slopped the pigs.

Whatever.

There are about three million different online "which Jane Austen character are you" quizzes on the web.

::That was not a scientific estimate. I'm not good at estimating amounts and distances and I no longer feel like attempting anything ballpark.::

I think I took one of those quizzes once, but noticed none of the options included "peasant servant girl in background" so I doubted the qualifications.

So my friend Naomi invites me to add the "Which Jane Austen character are you?" application on Facebook a few days ago.

Grrr.

I take the quiz and find out it's one where you can't get your results unless you invite something along the lines of 200 friends which, if you do it, you'll have less friends. I might be a servant person, but I'm not dummy. So I canceled it out.

But, through the gift of crappy application programmers, my results still showed up on my profile despite my rejection of the order to invite, and I found out which Jane Austen character I was most like. At long last, I can agree:

Your result is: Fanny Price
You are smart and shy, a quiet beauty with brains that intimidate everyone around you. You often feel out of place, homeless and alone. As an intellectual idealist, you long to be heard and understood, but rarely waste your time trying to defend yourself to those who could not possibly understand. Time and experience is making you bolder. Despite your clever genius, you long for simplicity, and the love of your soul mate, who is a socially surprising and unlikely match.

Ha ha ha. What tripe. "That's me! That's me! Clever genius!"

These dumb quizzes annoy me, like some kind of literature-based horoscope.

I do, however, admit that I loved Fanny Price's character in (OK, I haven't read Mansfield Park and I know the movie is a severe bastardization but nevertheless, her character was fantastic) the movie Mansfield Park. The quiz is referencing the movie and not the book. In the movie (unlike in the book), she was smart and sharp and a witty writer and had a backbone and also came from more realistic non-elevated servant-esque family and circumstances and...was a servant of sorts.

And no one told her what to do.

Which is tricky, when you're a servant. Even a servant of sorts.

::Go, Fanny, go. It's unfortunate about your name, but we can't have everything, can we?::

Labels: books, facebook, friends, internet, movies, my life

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Make yourself necessary.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Make yourself necessary to somebody.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

That's kind of the reverse of wanting to be needed.

Instead of "I wish someone needed me" I could figure out how to become necessary.

::While it may be a sacrilege to quote both Emerson and a line from the movie Young Guns in the same post, I'm going to do it.::

In the movie Young Guns, there is a scene in which a young Chinese woman refuses to leave for safety and instead chooses to stay inside the house getting pummeled by gun fire. Keifer Suthereland's character tells her to go, but she won't. And then she replies: You have made me necessary.

Up until that point, she was little more than a plaything for the bad guy of the film.

The line always sticks with me (along with "Regulators, mount up!" and "I'll make you famous!" -- but they don't really apply here).

You have made me necessary.

The second half of Emerson's quote is equally important: Do not make life hard to any.

I suspect the key to becoming necessary to another person is that second, oft-neglected, part of the quote. The first half is about me, the second half about you.

It should never be about me. Because that isn't necessary.

Labels: essay, movies, relationships

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Enchanted. Enchant not.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 5 comments link this post

Because I'm spending the night in Grand Forks at my sister's house (screening for a Pracs study tomorrow for a little pre-Nicaragua-trip cash), I thought killing time today should invlove a movie. So, I took my neice to the movie Enchanted tonight. I'd heard it was sort of a suprising delight of a film (it was), as well as clean and free from overt offensiveness (it was).

Admittedly, over the years, I've lost my taste for romantic movies. I'm known for fast forwarding through the mushy scenes of action or sci-fi movies. I sort of look at it all as a big, cosmic joke at this point.

Enchanted was cute, though, despite it being all about "true love"* in a kind of self-depcrecating Walt Disney way. Singing birds and characters, starting and finishing in cartoon with live-action in the middle. Chipmunks that talked. Susan Sarandon in serious Wicked Stepmother garb. Things like that. Cute. (Go and see it.)

The drive from the theater back to my sister's house, however, was slightly less enchanting.

"You really need to get your child some Beano," I told my sister as I walked in the door, my neice giggling still from things that she claimed were silent but deadly.

Despite the natural gas accidents, the evening was pretty good.

------------------------

*The only "romance" movie I can stand is The Princess Bride. It is about "true love" as well as "true wuv", and, more importantly, contains the greatest truth: chocolate coating makes everything go down easier.

Labels: family, movies, my life

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Thank you, A&E.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 7 comments link this post

Apparently, the A&E channel decided to run the film "Jesus Camp." This has attracted multiple hits from people yet again doing searches on "jesus camp" and "lakewood park bible camp."

Neat.

Most importantly, as my stat counters have notified me, is an incoming link to this post (uh...newly "updated" for the newcomers) from the Democratic Underground.

You can imagine the stimulating conversation going on there.

'Tis a swell way to cap off the year on this blog.

Labels: blogging, links, movies

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

The Golden Crisis.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 4 comments link this post

I've already gotten about six emails pointing to the Snopes article regarding Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and the upcoming movie of the first book, The Golden Compass. I've written a couple of long emails detailing my thoughts on the book and the movie and whether or not I'll be seeing it.

I've been aware of the books for a while -- they're not exactly "brand new." I haven't read them, simply because I have about 20 other books in my youth reading pile that I haven't read, either. The preview to the movie was high-quality and lush.

I'd contemplated writing a post on this, but just the thought of another Da Vinci Code-style Christian brouhaha that will likely take place, and the exhaustion of being part of that discussion in any sense, kept me from doing it. I figured this would be yet another "golden crisis" for some Christian leaders to get all the minions worked up, protesting, avoiding, and buying books and other materials so they can be ready to give the answer they are told to give.

Luckily, Michael Spencer did a bang-up job of writing on the matter and saved me the effort. All I have to say is, go read it.

UPDATE: Here are a few more blog posts on the film which I think you'll find interesting.

Labels: books, links, movies, religion

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Music: Raising Sand.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this post

I'm not sure why I bought the CD. Maybe it was curiosity on how Robert Plant would sound with Alison Krauss. I have that little thing for Led Zepplin, you know.

But Alison Krauss? With Mr. Immigrant Song?

Raising Sand, produced by T Bone Burnett, is completely unexpected, unusual, and really a joy to listen to. There isn't a song I don't like on it, with each song not willing to just sit in the background but pulling me in to hear the mix of voices and unusual instrumentation. I thought, for sure, that Plant would take the lead and Krauss would be some kind of second, but that isn't the case. In fact, I was surprised that Plant could sing like he does.

Really, this is a fine album. If you like music that isn't made to be commercial and slick but meaty and real instead, you really ought to pick up a copy of this album. (Even my dad likes it!)

Read more here, here and here.

Labels: movies

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Enchanted cabinet.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 2 comments link this post

On my way to work this morning, I noticed a small, hand-painted sign stuck in the ground alongside the highway. It read:

LOST. Cabinet with baby clothes.
(Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur)

There were some other words after that, but the general population has yet to learn that signs along roads where cars are traveling fast must have few words and readable writing, and could also benefit from better brush-work. I couldn't make it all out. I had to slow down to about 40 mph as it was, just to read what I did.

I'm not used to seeing signs advertising furniture that has escaped, and that the random driver along a highway might be helpful in finding.

I continued driving, but enjoyed the realization that evidently the enchanted furnishings from Disney's Beauty and the Beast had escaped their celluloid prison. I pictured the little cabinet, free at last, onesies and jumpers flying out of drawers, as it jogged down the highway.

Run, cabinet. Be free.

Labels: local, movies

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Wild hits.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I take it the movie "Into the Wild" is opening soon.

I've had no less than 600 hits on this blog so far today, and almost all of them were from people doing Chris McCandless searches. They are finding this post. There are a few other posts some are stumbling on, but mainly that one.

Gee.

Are they getting ready for the movie? Saw an early screening?

For the past half year, more and more McCandless emails have trickled in with comments on that post, but today has been...wild.

Labels: movies

Like this post? Subscribe to the feed. Help support this site. Facebook | Stumble It! | Del.icio.us | DiggIt! | Technorati | Blinklist | Furl | reddit | Newsvine

Hunger.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

My eyes open. I am unable to sleep.

The television remote is on my bed stand.

Flipping through the channels in my darkened room, I stumble upon The Hunger, a movie I have no wish to see again and wonder how it was that I saw it the first time.

But I wait a moment.

Gregorio Allegri's Misere is playing in the soundtrack.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness.

A strange song for such a movie, I think at first. Those words for a vampire movie.

For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

The sound wafts across my room like the white, gauze curtains in the movie. The cantus hits the high C. Her voice slides downward.

I turn the television off and still hear the music in the dark room, my eyes seeing faint blue phantom squares from the now-dark television.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

I have this song on a CD, I remember, and I turn on the light so that I might find it on my CD rack.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation.

I want to hear it while sleeping. I want to hear it when I fall back into that dark moment that marks the end of this day. I want to hear it in that brief moment when real and imagined are the same, just before I slip into sleep.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

I turn out the lights.

<