Saturday, January 12, 2008

Poem for Saturday

To a Middle-Aged Friend Considering Adultery with a Younger Man
By Judith Viorst


It's hard to be devil-may-care
When there are pleats in your derriere
And it's time to expose what your panty hose are concealing.
And although a husband's fond eyes
Make certain allowances for your thighs,
Young lovers might look less benignly at what you're revealing.

It's hard to surrender to sin
While trying to hold your stomach in
And hoping your blusher's still brightening up your complexion,
And hoping he isn't aware
As he runs his fingers through your dark hair,
That you've grown unmistakably gray in a whole other section.

It's hard to experience bliss
When sinus intrudes on every kiss
And when, in the tricky positions, your back starts to hurt you.
And when you add all it entails
To teach him what turns you on and what fails,
You might want to reconsider the virtues of virtue.

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Most of my Friday involved chores, writing a review of "Pen Pals" (which seemed much better than I remembered it, I absolutely loved watching it again) and then folding laundry while watching Ballet Shoes, the British TV movie about a trio of orphan girls growing up poor in London in the 1930s. I had received a copy of it and wanted to see it for Emma Watson and the girl from The Sarah Jane Adventures (which I still haven't watched), but I really loved everything about it -- Richard Griffiths as an eccentric explorer, Emilia Fox running the household, the setting and clothes, but particularly how girl-centric it is. Watson has a couple of very good scenes -- her character has enough similarities to Hermione that it's hard to say whether she's developed more range as an actor or was smart enough to take a part she knew she could do, but either way she's enjoyable (and I'm liking her a lot these days anyway, a teenager who says she's happy to be playing a feminist rather than pretending she's not).

Friday Fiver: You'll forget the sun
1. Where do you like to walk?
Around the stone circle in Avebury. Will settle for nearly any garden, zoo or sacred space.
2. What does your hair look like? Curly/frizzy, dark brown going gray.
3. What are you jealous of? People who seem to be able to get ten times more done in a day than I do.
4. What kind of promises do you make? The kind I intend to keep, the road to hell being paved with good intentions.
5. What makes you stare? Public nudity.

The Friday Five: Randomosity Redux!
1. What is your favourite fruit?
The chocolate-covered raspberry.
2. What is the last book you read? Chesapeake: Exploring the Water Trail of Captain John Smith by John Page Williams.
3. Do you like any of your school photos? Third grade is terrific. The high school ones look better to me now than they did when I was in high school.
4. Do you ever blowdry your armpits to get the deodorant to dry quicker? Sorry, am laughing too hard to type.
5. What was the last film you watched? Ballet Shoes. If made-for-TV doesn't count, 3:10 to Yuma. If DVD doesn't count, National Treasure 2.

In the evening I went with my parents and in-laws to Daniel's school winter concert, which featured the chamber choir, guitar ensemble, a cappella group and orchestra. It was terrific -- the guitar ensemble played Bach and Bossa Nova, then played along with the choir on several classical pieces and a few of the holiday songs, then the full orchestra played a short Mussorgsky piece, a suite of English folk songs by Vaughan Williams and a movement from a Beethoven symphony. The group is traveling to Atlanta for a music festival in the spring. Both the men's and women's basketball teams were playing in the gym one after the other, so the snack store was open, and the music department was having a bake sale -- this school is so enormous it seems like there are always five things going on even at nine o'clock at night, and tomorrow son must choose between robotics and an all-day pre-calculus review session for midterms. Anyway, it was a lovely evening.


The chorus director introduces "O, ir kleyne likhtelekh" and "Kumah Echa," pieces in Yiddish and Hebrew.


The guitar ensemble performs an adaptation of the Sailor's Hornpipe.


The choir and guitar ensemble performing "Tanzen und Springen" together.


The student-run a cappella group performs "Paperback Writer."


The orchestra plays the second movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.


Watched SGA and the late broadcast of Flash Gordon -- how come I can forgive incredibly cheesy sci-fi for being incredibly cheesy, but I get really irritated when pretty good sci-fi has moments of cheesiness? Spoilers: I liked Teyla's toughness, but in the end it was all an excuse to get her out of commission for the duration of her pregnancy, and maybe that's what the actress wanted so she didn't have to work so much, but it's so not Teyla and the way they did it so completely failed to convince me...she allowed an evil Wraith queen into her mind and in doing so almost wrecked her pregnancy? It's all a game of Good Mother, Bad Mother to begin with, a Queen who allowed herself to be used to create lots of nastiness, and all the images of grotesque wrong fetal creatures while John, Rodney and Ronon go ewwww...definitely not an episode I'll rewatch.

Flash Gordon is just goofy, but I love Baylin and I'm starting to like Aura and though Dale is a complete bimbo, she's pretty much Flash's equal in that regard. And I find the science geek-dork on that show endearing rather than...well, I know better than to say anything less than affectionate about Rodney McKay here. *g* Bottom line, I saw the smoking new Torchwood clips with James Marsters and when I'm ranking my favorite current sci-fi shows, it's Doctor Who, Torchwood, Heroes, Journeyman, and I admit I'm still watching Smallville and will probably watch BSG's endgame, so I don't have a lot invested in Sci-Fi Friday!

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