Rent (aka La Bohème)

I watched La Bohème in September out of curiosity. I've had Rent DVDs from the library since then but finally watched the movie version this morning. It seemed quite timely to talk about rent, evictions, and starving artists. But as much as I can see how it was inspired by La Bohème, it was definitely modernized.

There are same sex relationships and a transgender character. There's drug addiction, a cinematographer, and protests. 

The cast was simply amazing. Rosario Dawson, Taye Diggs, etc. I confess that I was working on a sorting project as I watched, so my attention was divided a bit.

It was longer than I anticipated (135 minutes), so I only watched the intro of the version filmed on Broadway. I'm sure the stage production is also amazing, but there are so many things you can do in film that you cannot do on a stage. 

The story made me sad and a bit reflective. I have a better understanding of the story now, so when I see  and hear references to either La Bohèmeor Rent, I will "get it." Time to return these to the library!

Opera

I had requested La Bohème on DVD from the library because I was curious. I'd never seen it, nor have I seen Rent (yet). I read enough to have a sense of the story and to know that Rent is loosely based on La Bohème.

The library kept renewing it for me because I kept not watching it. I was pretty confident Louie wouldn't be interested in seeing it. Finally, my renewals are up and it must be returned! I watched it last night.

1. I'm super glad it automatically had the English subtitles. Italian opera is relatively incomprehensible to me.

2. Not everything that was being sung had a subtitle . . . 

3. What? What happened between the second and third acts?!?! How did Rodolfo and Mimi go from being madly in love to jealous and fighting? Did I look down at a project for a crucial few moments?

Most of all, watching this made me think of my mom. Every once in a while, she would listen to opera on NPR. I would complain and ask her why she liked listening to "people screaming in Italian" so much. She pretty much brushed me off. I wish I could ask her genuinely now . . . what about this appeals to you?

I don't regret having watched it. I enjoyed seeing Pavarotti and the other performers. I have a deeper understanding of the story (so when it is referenced, my cultural literacy is improved) and now I can watch Rent. Win!

I also have to say that I had a positive opera experience. High school friend Leslie invited Jenifer, Connie, and me to see a show when she was involved with Minnesota Opera. I mostly admired the costumes and read the words on a screen to the side of the stage, but I also remember that Alan Page was there! Thanks, Leslie, for sharing that experience.

Church Humor

 I don't even remember who said this, but it made me laugh and I jotted it on my bulletin . . . I love being able to "save" things on this blog and de-clutter my physical space. I hope someone else reads and enjoys this.

 

"I'm a 'prison singer' - you know, behind a few bars and missing the key."

 

Me too! I'm a poor singer, though I love to sing. This just really tickled my funny bone!

Sometimes You Just Need to Put It in Perspective

Back in the 1990s, a wonderful student of mine named Danielle Norris asked me to write her a letter of recommendation for college. She included money for postage. She was one of those extraordinary students (and yearbook staffers) for whom I would have done almost anything. Here are those pieces of ephemera:

 I later received an invitation to her graduation party. I don't know why I wasn't able to go . . . because this was over twenty years ago! I had received a bunch of address books from my aunt and one of them said "Danielle" so I set it aside with the invitation, intending to get these items to her. (Along with a cash gift, I hope, but again - this was a long time ago!)

At one point in time, I tried locating Danielle and / or her parents. It had been long enough that they no longer were in the Jordan area. I have no idea if the East Coast address I found was accurate or not. 

Once again, these items got buried in my numerous piles of stuff to do / deal with / follow up on. (I have sooooooo much stuff and am trying to let it all gooooooo!)

Blogging helps me to let go. Slowly but surely, my house is getting less cluttered. I'm trying to be careful about not buying things I don't need. I'm trying to donate, recycle, and toss. I don't want to leave a legacy of clutter for my children at the end of my life. Here's one more "thing" done and gone. 

 

If Danielle ever reads this, thanks for being an amazing student and wonderful young woman. I hope you're experiencing the best that life has!

The money went into my "Buddy Barrel" - for kids ministries. The address book went into the Goodwill bag. The papers are in the recycling bin.

VHS Tapes!

I had already been trying to winnow down our collection of VHS tapes before my mother-in-law passed away in 2013. After a session of helping his dad clean out their house, Louie came home with four BOXES of VHS tapes! I was pretty stressed about it. He let me throw away some of the older taped-off-televsion tapes we had. The rest of those boxes sat for a long time.

In August 2020, I determined to tackle the videotape issue. I laid them all out on the pool table. We had 170 VHS tapes on August 4th. I waited until Louie was in a receptive mood to go through them. One at a time, I held them up and asked if he wanted to keep it. The rest went into a donation pile or one of the categories listed below. On August 12th, we had 85 tapes left. Here are some that I donated (I didn't orient the photos properly for reading titles - sorry!):

Now, I love October Sky, Braveheart, and others, but we can always borrow the DVDs from the public library if we want to watch them again! If he was willing to let it go, I had to be okay with it, too! I was so glad to learn that Goodwill takes these tapes. Dumping them in the garbage would have bummed me out a bit. But I wasn't interested in trying to sell them myself!

We ended up with 33 that he wanted to keep and ten that I decided to keep. That left me with 42 to deal with. Slowly over the fall, I would see what was on a tape and then either toss it or put it in the "to digitize" pile. By October 24th, I had the 43 "keepers" in a bin and 28 "TBD." 

My categories were "Save," "Louie decide," "Jeanne decide," "Watch & decide," and "Digitize." I did throw some tapes into the garbage . . . as much as I dislike landfills, they are a fact of our lives. Within the digitize category, I sorted them by high, medium, and low priority.

Louie's mom loved musicals (me, too!) so we watched "Carousel," which I had never seen before. (It was horrid!) Then we watched "State Fair," which wasn't much better. (I had seen a stage version once, but never the movie.) These are the four we have left to watch and then I'm confident my husband will let me donate them as well:

 

Last week, he set up a computer for me to digitize the VHS tapes that I want to keep. I did one from when Pepper was a puppy and Nick's twelfth birthday party with all his buddies over. There's one with Morgan as a baby and a few of Alex's birthday parties. I'm eager to make progress on this project! I may or may not have a follow-up blog entry, but it feels good to have gotten this far!

Christian Movies

 Louie and I started watching Breakthrough a few weeks ago, but the first thirty minutes are kind of painful. I just wasn't in the mood for it. But since I'd had it from the library for several renewals and knew it was based on a true story, I finished watching it myself. 

Simply amazing. I love the story. I'm curious now to read the book which Joyce Smith wrote after her son went through the ice and wasn't expected to survive. Our God is awesome!

Back of DVD blurb: "When Joyce Smith's (Chrissy Metz) adopted son John (Marcel Ruiz) falls through an icy Missouri lake, all hope seems lost as John lies lifeless. In the face of every bleak medical case history and dire scientific prediction, Joyce's unwavering belief inspires her community to pray for John's recovery. Based on the incredible true story, Breakthrough is an enthralling reminder that faith and love can create a mountain of hope, and sometimes even a miracle."

Those first thirty minutes though . . . ouch. She's being horrible to the new pastor. The angry adoptee lashes out. It made me think of watching Fireproof with friends after it had been highly recommended. The first chunk of the movie was husband and wife fighting. Loudly. Not an awesome cinematic experience.

Watching this made me curious to know more about the real people. I'm especially curious about the one rescue diver who heard a voice telling him to go back. Did he become a believer? I may need to get the book to read more! Or spend more time here.

Goofy Alarm Clocks

I don't know why I find things like this so amusing! These alarm clocks are ones I was tempted to buy the boys many, many years ago. I didn't, but hung on to these ads for some strange reason. I kind of wish I had just purchased them as a silly novelty; I think they would have enjoyed using them as tweens or teens. Perhaps in a decade, I can get something like this for Joshua . . . or myself!