An Ideal Husband

While we look to the dramatist to give romance to realism, we ask of the actor to give realism to romance.
-- Oscar Wilde

Saturday, May 29, 1999
One year ago: Short Subjects
Two years ago: Dark Convictions

I gave Jack a call this morning, to talk about what we'd do for my birthday tomorrow. These plans had been way up in the air, because we weren't sure what Jack might have to be doing for his move to Bellingham, but the possibility of him coming into Seattle with his younger daughter and taking me to dinner had been discussed.

But he had an even better idea! He suggested that the three of us drive up north tomorrow in the afternoon, poke around up there, spend the night somewhere, then come back Monday morning. I've never been farther north than Anacortes. This should be fun! And getting to spend so much time with Jack on my birthday is an unexpected treat! He was concerned that this wouldn't be enough of a celebration, and that I didn't sound that excited about it all. I replied that ever since I've been going to the film festival, I really haven't done a big hoo-ha for my birthday -- it just comes at the wrong time of year! (Maybe I should celebrate it at a different time, as the Queen does.) Just look at my last two birthdays! In 1997, my two festival buddies and I shared a nice dessert between films, standing in the hall below the movie theater. Last year I had breakfast with my sister M--- and her sons, then went to the movies as usual. Both were just fine birthdays.

I remembered this morning that this was probably the most convenient time for me to go pay my cable bill. As I was driving north, I remembered that I was out of checks! So I went past the cable office and stopped at Larry's Market to use the cash machine, and pick up provisions. They had the delicious feta cheese spread I like (it seems to have been dropped by my local market), and I tried a chicken chutney wrap sandwich. I bought two new votive candles, whose bins were cleverly marked with big handwritten signs saying "New Fragrance!" so of course I had to try them. "Vineyard" smells more like grape jelly, now that I've got it home, but "Mountain Lake" is refreshing.

At the cable office, the man at the counter station I walked up to commented on my Coach bag. "It's really old, but I like it," I said. We discussed how you can get them remade (as I did last year), and he insisted that it costs more now than it did, but it's still worth it. He showed my his black shoulderbag (!) and matching briefcase, and recommended that I get some Coach leather oil and moisturize my purse. He was wearing more jewelry than most guys you see, including a charm bracelet. He did give me a tip on a Coach purse that he'd seen at the Value Village thrift store on Capitol Hill, a few days ago. Since I was going to be in the neighborhood, I made a mental note to go look for it later.

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What a gorgeous day! Warm, a slight breeze, and no humidity. I met up with my movie buddy A--- inside the theater. We decided that it would be a good idea for me to go across the street to the box office between movies, and pick up a ticket for my sister, who is joining us for a movie on Monday.

• Vacas
  (IMDB page for this film) I remembered this movie from a film festival in the early nineties, but I didn't remember all of it. The later sequence about the Spanish Civil War had escaped me. It's a strange movie; it's hard to describe why I like it so much, but I do. It's about three generations of Basque mountain men, woodcutters who also keep cows. The importance of nature reminded me of Janacek's opera, The Cunning Little Vixen. The American audience is held in suspense by the opening credits, which are extreme closeups of the woodchopping style used by the Basques. They stand on the log and swing the huge axe between their feet!

I walked over to the box office, as planned, and waited in line to buy the ticket for my sister, and pick up my ticket for the closing night gala premiere of "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me." I'm not sure I'll go to that event, but I needed to pick up the ticket just in case. When another woman in line asked what a "Goodwill Membership" was (this was listed on the sample orderform), I and another passholder started educating her on the benefits of joining Cinema Seattle. I don't think we convinced her, though.

I did go over to the thrift store. I'm not sure if I found the purse my cable acquaintance was thinking of, but I did find a Coach purse among all the junky ones. It cost a bit more than he'd mentioned, but it was still a good value, so I got it.

• American Passport
  (IMDB page for this film) There's some confusion on the correct title of this film. The program listed it as "Amerikan Passport," but the credits had the word spelled in the normal way. It's a one-man (almost) documentary about a trip around the world in 1989 and 1990. Reed Paget managed to travel to many world hotspots during those volatile few years -- Tianemen Square, South Africa, Nicarauga. I think the time it took to finish the film was helpful, since it put the focus on his personal experiences instead of any possible news value of his material. Worth seeing.

We decided to go eat before the next movie, so we skipped out on the Q&A session afterwards. A---, another guy, a couple we know, and I all walked over to Medditerranean Kitchen Express (after an aborted attempt to dine at an Italian place on the corner -- closed!) and feasted on saffron rice, chicken schwarma (too much red cabbage, but otherwise very tasty), baba ganoush and falafil. This company is featured in our cafeteria at work from time to time, but they don't bring in the meat entrees there, and that's what I really like. Their tahini and hummus are super-garlicky, more so than I would prepare for myself, but the marinated and grilled chicken, lamb or beef kebabs are tangy and delicious.

A--- and L---- (the other guy) went off to other theaters, and C-- and Y--- (the couple) and I returned to the Egyptian. Since I could choose to suit myself, I sat on the aisle in the front section, much closer than usual. Instead of sitting in my seat and having to get up every time someone wanted to enter the row, I perched on the armrest on the aisle and filled out my Fool Serious ballot. I'd been slacking on this till now, but I remembered what I'd thought about the films I've seen and rated them appropriately. It was a good chance to use the lighted Screen Actors Guild pen, which was passed out as a freebie from Cinema Seattle at some point.

When I was in my seat, the woman in the row in front turned around. "Are you Anita?" she asked. It was June, author of "You Say Tomato," (check it out, then bug her to update). We'd been wondering if we'd cross paths during the festival. We talked about the festival, work, and journal stuff, of course. It was fun to meet her!

• An Ideal Husband
  (IMDB page for this film) This is an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play. I have a collection of his plays, so I presume I've read this one, but I didn't remember much about it. The movie was okay, but I wasn't bowled over by it. I was distracted by the mismatch between Rupert Everett and Minnie Driver. When they were gazing intently at each other in a two-shot, it looked like dueling jawlines. I had trouble getting interested in the main story, despite the current-events relevance of political blackmail and secrets in the past. Everett does do a good job with all the Wilde quips and paradoxes. Jeremy Northam -- Mr. Knightley in Emma -- is suitably noble but tortured as the blackmail victim.

I decided to stop at three movies, and came home on the bus. It was pleasant and relaxing to have that unstructured time, time to get caught up here and work on next month's journal stuff.