Yesterday morning, after a short and restful night’s sleep, while I was still just waking up, certain images danced through my brain. The cat’s butt was snuggled up against me, she opened one rheumy eye, meowed in distaste that I was disturbing her, and she suggested I shut up and go back to sleep. Or fix her breakfast.
The muse was stirring me awake. Nice to have something charge me. And what did the muse want to ?
I hobbled off, a little earlier than usual, with a sinking suspicion that something wasn’t right. Halfway between here and there, and I realized that I had a beeper, pocketknife, wallet, the charts I was supposed to read, a pen, everything but the damn cell phone. Which was one reason I felt incomplete. Plus the client and I missed connections. They left two messages my cell. Which I couldn’t do anything about.
While I was patiently waiting in one spot, missing calls, I perused the morning paper. Front page, above the fold? An article straight out of the realm of fiction, about case that a cop solved with a DNA test, a “widow” wasn’t really a widow as she and her husband faked his death, then hoped to claim the insurance money and start a new life in Florida. But a cop who noted certain irregularities, like the burned body didn’t have the right DNA, no skid marks, lighter fluid, and so on. I never did finish the article, but that was some mighty fine tabloid-style journalism.
At the top of the business section, there was bit about a new store that markets to women over 35. Which is another issue I tend not to have a clue about, but I do know that women over 35 are for more desirable than those under 35. (The fact that this rated an article amazes me. The way most males miss the clues amazes me. The women over 35? They have a life, usually kids, better looking, more self-assured, know themselves, better sense of style, more gracious, and when I say stupid things? They just laugh it off.)
Awards and recognition:
I saw that on one site, the “awards and recognition” page and various posts. Well, no awards here.
At the movies:
I slid downtown to catch an early evening show, only to find out that it was sold out. Then, while I was fetching an early evening espresso, my phone buzzed.
“Hello darling,” I said, after I looked at the number.
“Hey, is there a Shakespeare movie starring Anthony Hopkins?”
No, “How are you,” no “What’s up,” just a Shakespeare trivia question.
I closed my eyes. The little Gemini with the shot of espresso took my money. I slipped a dollar in her jar. I was wearing a “heavy metal” t-shirt, the irony was lost on all (Gotterdamrung, done in the finest gothic print. Heavy metal, get it? Oh never mind, the irony is still lost on too many these days.)
“Titus,” I said, “movie version of , arguably one of Shakespeare’s worst. Early play, I think, like 1590 or so, and Shakespeare was trying to outdo Marlow’s blood.”
So straight up, from memory, since it plagued me the rest of the evening? I may have the facts wrong, but I think there’s a kid-pie. Not kidney pie, but a face in the pie, so that’s cannibalism, and there’s this rape, and to keep her from talking, they cut her tongue out, and to keep her from fulfilling the myth of Philomel (I could have the myth/name/scene/plot all wrong), they cut her hands off, too. Then there’s an Amazon warrior princess, yeah, they cut off one breast for bow hunting. Or something.
I know I’ve seen parts of it, maybe all of the movie, but I don’t recall much. I do know, I’ve read the play, and the gore was just awful. I did like the staging in the movie, though, and the art direction was outstanding. But it’s a bloody play.
I do recall that Anthony Hopkins, this was after “Silence of the Lambs,” could’ve done anything, but his real skill as an actor was apparent in that movie. I think, again, facts may off on this, but I think he had some classical training – there’s nothing like trying to bounce through some of the Bard’s work makes that kind of training more apparent.
I kept amusing myself, “The silence of the Philomena.” Yeah, all about right – bloody awful.
