On Life, Death, Beethoven and Ebony

Do you have a soundtrack for the major events in your life? I am one of those people who constantly have music running through my head, about 95% of the time. Sometimes it is an earworm that can’t be shaken, or a piano or chamber music piece that I’m working on, or just something I heard recently. I recently watched The King's Speech again and I was struck by how fitting the music choice of Beethoven Symphony No. 7, 2nd movement was for the final speech.  The somber tone of the piece, moving at a slower tempo, set the stage perfectly for the grave nature of the king’s call to war. I prefer this movement at a slower tempo and feel that it is far more fitting played in Moderato or Andante than Allegretto.  This piece perfectly highlighted the angst of King George’s struggle with his speech impediment as well as his regret for having to call his countrymen into war.  In the scene, the people of England were all leaning into their radios, hanging on every word of the speech, united by their king, united by the words, united by the pauses, united by the music. It is a masterful piece of film. After the speech, the credits were accompanied by the incredibly poignant Adagio movement of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto (Concerto No. 5, the last time I remember it featured in a film was in The Competition).  Since then, both those pieces have been playing on my iPod and in my head constantly.

Last month, my cat Ebony had to be put down. She had a long wonderful life. But in the last months when she fell ill, we were very sad. During this time, the two Beethoven pieces with their sorrowful melodies kept running through my head.  It was the perfect accompaniment to this sad chapter of our lives.



Here is a celebration of Ebony's life. Doug and I picked up Ebony while we were still dating nearly 17 years ago. I wanted to have a cat that was female so that she could have kittens. I also wanted a black cat so that her cat fur wouldn't show up on my clothes. When we saw Ebony, a scrawny runt among a litter of free kittens for adoption, she immediately picked us. She velcro'd herself to my shirt and wouldn't let go. Since she fit my requirements, we took her home despite her diminutive size.  I love this photo of Ebony and Doug as she is so tiny and cute and they both have the same expression. When she was a kitten she always had those crazy eyes, constantly running everywhere and needing lots of attention.

Sure enough in about a year she became pregnant and had a litter of just two kittens. In most of the photos, the three of them are just a sea of black fur but this one shows all of them, Ebony, Wysiwyg and Fezziwig (yet another long story about their names). She was so proud of these kittens when they were born, but after they were about 12 weeks old she grew tired of them.

We couldn't separate the two kittens so we ended up keeping both of them as they were inseparable. 

A couple years later, I got a call from a woman who said that she found Ebony on a busy road near our house.  She had been run over by a truck and was in the middle of the road not moving, but the woman still stopped to pick her up and wrapped her in a blanket.  The woman called the phone number on her ID tag and we quickly met up.  I couldn't believe that this woman with young children in the back of her car stopped to pick up a seemingly dead cat from the middle of a busy road! I don't think I would have. After we thanked her profusely, Doug and I drove Ebony to the vet, not expecting good news. Ebony was still wrapped in the woman's blanket. After an exam, x-rays and an overnight stay, she came back to us with no more than a scrape on her chin and some broken teeth.  It was a miracle.  One of her nine lives was used up for certain!  I still think about this woman's selfless act. If Ebony had not been picked up, she would have surely been run over again on this busy street.

A few months after this incident, Fezziwig came to an untimely end in a meeting with coyotes. Around the same time, I became pregnant with Adam. We always felt that Adam was a reincarnation of Fezziwig.  

When I was seven months pregnant I was carpooling to work with my friend when an accident occurred in front of us.  An long-haired tabby cat darted out in front of the truck ahead of us and was run over right under the wheels.  I immediately pulled over next to the cat who was flailing on the ground and scooped him up in my arms, paying no attention to the cars driving around us. It must have been quite a scene - pregnant woman jumps out of car on a busy street to pick up flailing cat who was just run over. I'm not sure what possessed me to jump out of my car, whether it was flashback to Ebony's rescue, or my new motherly instinct kicking in.

The cat was thrashing violently and I had to hold him tight against my pregnant belly to calm him down.   The driver of the truck had also pulled over and told us that he knew where the vet was located a few miles down the road.  My friend drove while I held on to this cat.  Before we arrived at the vet, the cat finally calmed down in my arms.  By the time we arrived, he was pronounced dead.  He was still warm, so I had no idea that he simply died peacefully in my arms.  So peacefully that I had not noticed that he pee'd all over my shirt. This was going to be a bit of an odor problem for work, so we went to a mall to buy some new maternity clothes and walked for an hour before the stores opened. If I stood in one spot, the smell would overwhelm us, so we had to keep moving and not look at anyone's faces in our wake.  I showered at work and donned the new clothes, but the smell still stayed with me all day.  I was really struck about the similar scenario regarding Ebony's encounter with a truck, but with completely different outcomes.

Ebony prospered for many years.  One of her favorite pastimes was hopping right into a middle of board game, card game or jigsaw puzzle.  Here she is offing Professor Plum in Clue Jr.

And playing checkers.



And recently staking out space on a jigsaw puzzle.



Ebony was there throughout Adam's life, when he was a baby...



And before he could read.



She always lent herself to petting by our family...



And our visitors.



When it was clear that Ebony was nearing the end of her life, the tough decision had to be made to put her down. A couple months ago, her belly swelled up in a matter of weeks.  We took her to the vet and she had surgery to drain a milky white substance called chyle.  There was no clear reason why this was occurring, common causes are cancer or other lesions.  After an overnight stay and $600+ she was back to normal.  But within a few weeks she had swollen up again.  She was clearly ill, but still functioned fine for the most part. We could continue to plunk down huge sums of cash to drain her every few weeks, or have her go through a painful death when the chyle choked the functions of her lungs and heart, or simply put her down. Doug couldn't face the reality of taking her to be put down, so I made the appointment.  Adam didn't want to hear or know anything about it, but Dova was keenly interested in going with me. I warned her that this would be extremely tough, but she's always been the type of person to take on problems and situations head on with all her focus and intensity.  She also insisted that we bury Ebony in the yard as opposed to sending her off in a group cremation or taking her ashes back (the girl never makes things easy for us!).

Here's how it went (warning, not for the weak of heart, and maybe even not you, Doug).  I brought Ebony in her carrier, with a towel, the blanket she was rescued in over 12 years ago, and a cardboard box.  I imagined that I would hold Ebony while she was being put down and would have the towel over me to protect from the relaxing of the bladder muscles I was so familiar with.  When we arrived, I explained to the vet that Dova wanted to be part of the euthanasia process.  The vet looked at me and said, "Wow, you're doing some advanced parenting here."  I explained that it was Dova's idea. He explained that it was unremarkable process, where she would first be sedated, and then injected with the chemicals to stop her heart.

Unremarkable as he claimed, the vet kept asking whether Dova would prefer to go feed the horses outside instead of watching. She started to doubt herself, so I stepped in saying that we've come so far, let's do it together (advanced parenting, right?). Bear in mind, that I have never been through this process myself, so I wasn't prepared for this either. The vet put a towel down on the examination table and Ebony laid quietly on it. I didn't want to insist on holding her, so I just let the process unfold.

After she was injected with the sedation solution, I petted her and rubbed her face like she enjoys, telling her that she was a good kitty and had a wonderful life.  She just laid there, relaxed, moving around just a little.  At some point, she stuck her tongue a couple times out to lick her face.  Finally she was still, with her eyes open.  The vet said she was sedated and gave her the final injection to her heart.  We waited a few minutes and the vet used a stethoscope to check that her heart stopped beating. Her eyes were still open. I tried to shut her eyes but they remained open. The vet explained that the relaxed state of eyes was open. I was surprised, you mean when you're sleeping, you actively have to keep your eyes shut? Yes, apparently it was part of the autonomic system. The vet explained that when people died, they had to superglue their eyelids shut for the funeral. Wow, there's an interesting science lesson to distract us from what was happening.

Afterward, I explained that we wanted Ebony to be wrapped in the blanket that she was rescued in years ago.  The vet started to wrap Ebony up and she was completely floppy, with no muscle control at all and clearly lifeless.  As he turned and spun her in the blanket, I must have had a shocked look on my face.  The vet turned to me and asked whether he was doing it right.  Then he asked if I was alright, I looked like I was about to cry.  Of course this is the absolute worse thing to say to someone who is holding back tears.  I quickly wiped my face and tried my hardest to maintain my composure.  Dova looked to be in about the same boat as me.  After the blanket, the vet wrapped Ebony in a cadaver bag and taped it shut.  We closed her in the Amazon cardboard box and took her out of the room. The box was warm. The vet graciously said that he would bill us so we didn't have to pay now.  As we walked out of the office, I suggested seeing the horses, but clearly neither of us was up for it.  After I put the warm box into the car and sat in the driver's seat, I looked back at Dova and told her that she was a very brave girl. That opened the gates for the waterworks.  I hopped into the backseat and held her as we both cried uncontrollably.  After a good ten minutes, we headed home.  Since we didn't have the hole in the ground ready, I put the box with Ebony into the freezer in the basement.  The box was still warm.

Our appointment with the vet was carefully scheduled between work and Dova's gymnastics practice.  When Dova was in her room getting dressed for gymnastics, I went in to check on her. She was crying next to her bed.  I held her again and told her that we needed to continue on with our lives.  That it was OK to feel sad, but it will get better.  She was able to regain her composure and made it to gymnastics practice, just a little puffy-eyed.

Everyone once in a while, we make the mistake of calling Ebony's name but we have adjusted to her loss. We were originally not going to get another cat, but a month after we put her down, we visited a local cat shelter and picked up a short-haired orange male tabby, completely opposite from Ebony.  He has filled our lives with a totally new personality, but Ebony will always be with us in our hearts.  Especially when I hear Beethoven's 7th Symphony.

We Are No Ordinary Family

Back in September, I posted about what my family's superpowers would be, like in the ABC series No Ordinary Family.  I have always wanted the ability to be in more than one place at a time, and chose flying for Adam and invisibility for Dova.  For Doug, I thought he could really use the ability to stop time so that "everything would be quiet. He could catch his breath, relax and relish the moment of silence."

As part of the TV series campaign, we had the opportunity to have a graphic artist create a family portrait with our superpowers.  I heard nothing back about this program until we received the actual portrait in the mail in December.  And wow, there we are as No Ordinary Family.  A for Adam, D for Dova, Doug resting with time stopped, and me cooking and cleaning(?!?) at the same time.  Dova's likeness is awesome, as well as my butt (I wish!).

If you haven't seen No Ordinary Family, check it out.  You can't go wrong when one of the main characters went to MIT, my alter ego do-it-all supermom .

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

We went to see the much awaited Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 this weekend. Having just read book seven within the past year, I was wondering how they would make this book into a movie.  The first half of the book is full of quiet moments of uncertainty where Harry, Ron and Hermione felt they had no idea what they were doing.  And that exactly what is portrayed in the movie.  The action scenes did not disappoint either with fast-moving magic and effects.  Adam said it was simply "awesome".

Adam and I sat next to each other during the movie and we kept whispering to each other what was coming next.  This was actually the first of the Harry Potter movies that we've seen in the movie theaters.  Previously, I felt that it would be too intense for the kids, although we've seen them all on DVD.  During the movie, I got a little concerned if six-year-old Dova was getting too frightened, but she said it was fine afterward.  Then again, this girl is completely fearless.

*** Spoiler alert past this point! ***

This was the second Harry Potter movie that Adam and I have watched where we have read the books beforehand.  In some ways, this ruins how the plot unfolds, but in other ways, it adds to the anticipation when a bad scene is coming up.  In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince I was disappointed in the scene where they find the locket horcrux.  The book clearly says that the basin is filled with a green potion, yet in the movie, the scene is shot in black and white and the liquid is clear.  They could have at least colorized the liquid green and kept the rest of the scene black and white.  It would have added to the magical effect of the potion. At least that's how I would have done it.


The Deathly Hallows Part 1 had only one disappointing deviation from the book where Harry failed to take Mad-Eye Moody's eye back from Dolores Umbridge's door.  The eye was shown spinning around in the door, but we didn't get to witness Harry's misjudgment in taking it. Otherwise, the movie was remarkably true to the book.

Doug and Dova, who haven't read the books, felt a bit confused about role of Xenophilius Lovegood during the movie.  Since he looked quite different from the wedding scene to the scene at his house, they didn't realize that he was desperate because the Death Eaters took his daughter Luna.  Doug also missed seeing Hogwarts, which we know is coming in Part 2.

The movie covered about 3/4 of the book and ends at the beginning of Shell Cottage, at page 502 of 672 pages. Part 2 will have to spread out the last quarter of the book.  The revelations will be bittersweet and we all can't wait to return to Hogwarts for the last time.

See these links for the contest and quiz on Asian Symbolism in Harry Potter and answers.

The Hills are Alive!

The Sound of Music (45th Anniversary Edition) (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

When I was a child, my favorite movie was The Sound of Music.  I loved the songs, the story, and the children, especially being an only child.  I loved everything about the movie.  I looked forward to seeing it every year on TV, except my parents would never let me stay up and watch the end.  As an adult, the movie is a bit saccharine and it's been on my list to buy, but I hadn't gotten around to it.

On the way to violin lessons last month, Adam and Dova wanted to hear the Do-Re-Mi song.  I immediately pulled up the The Sound of Music soundtrack on my iPod and we started to sing along.  And then I played them all the good kid tunes from the soundtrack, My Favorite Things, The Lonely Goatherd, and So Long, Farewell.  Every ride to violin lessons was accented by yodeling and belting out of high notes (especially by Adam).  It was a musical lover’s dream.  Thankfully, Adam and Dova are still at an age where there is still magic in these songs and not everything is spoiled.

To add to the magic, since Dova was a baby, I have sung her a “Dova Bea” song based on the melody to Edelweiss.  And we also  have a cuckoo clock that plays Edelweiss.  So to her, this is a magical song that our whole family revolves around. The song is also magical to Austrians everywhere, even though it never existed before Rodgers  and Hammerstein wrote it for the movie.  This musical duo is simply one of the best of all time.

When the Blu-Ray edition was released earlier this month, I knew it was time to get the movie.  The kids knew all the songs by heart, and I knew the high definition digital restoration would be stunning.  And it was simply glorious to watch as a family.  My eyes were popping out just from the opening sequence in the mountains.  The detail of the trees and the sparkle of the water was spectacular.  And when Julie Andrews came into view through the crispy clear blades of grass, I got chills down my spine.  Even by today’s standards, the cinematography in this movie is still first class.  Later, the color and texture of the fabrics were brilliantly rendered.  After watching the video restoration featurette, you can see that things like the white balance correction makes this version the best version of The Sound of Music that anyone has ever seen.

There were parts of the story that I had forgotten, thanks to editing from the network TV versions.  The Edelweiss duet between the Captain (sung by Bill Lee) and Liesl (Charmian Carr) was very charming.  This version of the song doesn’t appear on any of the soundtracks except on the 40th Anniversary Special Edition with extra tracks, so I’ll have to add this soundtrack to my collection as well.

The Sound of Music (1965 Film Soundtrack - 40th Anniversary Special Edition)

I’ve also soaked up the extras on the Blu-Ray edition.  There is a wonderful sing-along where I’ve finally learned all the words to I Have Confidence ("Strength doesn't lie in numbers", not "Strength the lion numbers"!).  Each song has a featurette, and there is even a clip of Christopher Plummer singing Edelweiss before Bill Lee was dubbed over.  The musical numbers take up a full 58 minutes of the nearly 3 hour film, and it is wonderful to have them all back to back to watch.  The kids were mesmerized by these old school music videos.  It was also cool to have the original intermission with the entr'acte music intact.

I was disappointed when I learned that I missed the special Oprah show where the cast of The Sound of Music reunited. Still, there are enough video tidbits to make a visit to this site worthwhile. The video of the Von Trapp great-grandchilden singing Edelweiss is moving and beautiful and the behind the scenes video and trivia photo montage are priceless.

If you’re looking for a great family movie for this holiday season, I can’t recommend this Blu-Ray edition of The Sound of Music enough.  Layee-o-dl layee-o-dl lay-ee-o!

Superpowers

Adam conducts with his superpowers

In a recent episode of This American Life on Superpowers, the first act featured a story where John Hodgman asks the question,”Which superpower would you choose, the power of flight or the power of invisibility?”  How you answer tells a lot about what kind of person you are.

My first thought was invisibility, but then I went back and forth on the flying.  I often have dreams of flying, of traveling through the world either by gliding through the air or just over the ground effortlessly, or by shrinking the earth into the size of a map so I could walk into another country with a single step.  But then the sneaky suspicious side of me would just love to spy on people when I am invisible. 

In the end, how you choose shows whether the gallant person with nothing to hide overcomes the darker, guilty, suspicious person.  They said that men choose flying more often and women choose invisibility.

But the superpower that I would want over anything else would be the ability to be in more than one place at a time.  I could finally be supermom and work full time, take care of the kids full time, and even split my time helping with homework, piano or violin practicing at the same time.  Of course these leads to no down time, but I could choose when and whether or not to split or clone or whatever it takes to be in more than one place at a time. 

Just this past weekend, I wished for this superpower again.  It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and I drove my convertible to my therapeutic massage appointment.  The weather was absolutely perfect, and I put on my music and enjoyed my little getaway from the kids.  My husband Doug took my son to his first soccer game of the season, which is something that I’ve done countless times.  However, this time my son Adam scored three out of the five goals helping his team to its first solid win in ages!  Oh how I wished I could have been there!  But if I were able to be in those two places at the same time, would I have relished my getaway if I weren’t really away?  I’ll worry about those philosophical dilemmas when I get to them.

The power I choose for Doug is the ability to stop time.  In Nicholson Baker’s book, The Fermata, the main character uses this power to do all sorts of kinky sex acts, but there are many more uses for this power.  Doug would love to invoke time stopping when the kids get too loud and crazy.  He could just stop time and everything would be quiet.  He could catch his breath, relax and relish the moment of silence.  Plus with his new job, he can finally get everything done despite our jam-packed family schedule.



My son Adam is pure of heart and would embrace flying without question.  He loves to defy gravity on the swings.  It is completely fitting for him.



My daughter Dova would definitely be the invisible one.  She already loves to sneak up on you and scare you any chance she gets.  Hopefully this won’t lead to a dark life of deception in the future.

So what superpower would you choose?  Do me a favor and comment here on this post about ABC's No Ordinary Family.

Diva – 29 Years Later

Diva

When people ask what my favorite movie is, I always respond with Diva.  I had seen it several times years ago in college and was completely entranced by this French art film.  Besides the intricate plot, beautiful engaging characters, and breathtaking vistas, it also had two of my favorite things, classical music and jigsaw puzzles.


Image from Boston.com
 
Of the characters, I loved Jules (Frédéric Andréi) for his true passion for the lovely diva Cynthia Hawkins (IRL singer Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez).  I’ve been an obsessive fan of singers and musicians myself (maybe not that that degree, but I may have left a love struck note on the desk of a baritone’s dorm room once).  Whenever I hear the aria “Ebben? Ne andrò lontana”, from Catalani's opera “La Wally”, it still sends chills up my spine.



There is also the cute French-Vietnamese Alba (Thuy An Luu) who roller skates in the vast loft of Gorodish (Richard Bohringer), part Zen master, part mastermind.



I'm a sucker for bathtubs and roller skating as well.


Images from Flixster.

I loved the huge jigsaw puzzle of a wave that Gorodish completes so much, I requested this 12,000 piece puzzle as a gift for myself several years ago.  One day I will clear out the entire living room to the wood floor, and work on the puzzle for months in a Zen-like state.  Perhaps I will roller skate around while I ponder the pieces (no, my living room is not that big).  The kids would have to be MUCH older of course because there is no Zen in my house these days.



Can you imagine Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam spread 12 feet across the floor?  It will be pure jigsaw puzzle bliss (or hell) someday!

I recently purchased a used copy of the Anchor Bay version of Diva.  Supposedly, the Meridian version of Diva was remastered in 2008, but the original was so horrible that I didn’t want to chance it, especially with reviews like this.  The Anchor Bay version did not disappoint.

Doug and I watched this old film together (his first time).  How did it hold up after all this time?  Some of the film is very dated.  The plot would not hold up in today’s world of cell phones.  But the music is timeless and the cinematography is still magnificent.  Doug liked Gorodish’s character and Jules still charms me every time.

Is Diva still my favorite movie?  Well until a movie comes out that has classical music, jigsaw puzzles and is that cool, it still is.  And yes, I can be hopelessly 80’s.

Children of Invention - Coming to Boston!

Long gone are my days of being a movie buff, attending film festivals and watching independent films.  Movies these days are all about family friendly fare, which can be good on occasion, but they rarely move me.  When I heard about Children of Invention, I jumped at the chance to view it on DVD.  Winner of 15 festival awards, this film tells the story of single mother who gets embroiled in a pyramid scheme and disappears, leaving her two young children to fend for themselves.  I was initially drawn to this movie because it involved a Chinese-American mother and her two children, similar in age to my own kids, and was set in the Boston area.  But the movie will certainly appeal to anyone who loves family drama.

Writer-director Tze Chun's feature film debut is heartwarming, humorous and completely endearing.  The child actors Michael Chen (Raymond Cheng) and Crystal Chui (Tina Cheng) completely steal the show. I was especially impressed with Michael's range of emotion, and Crystal was completely charming and precocious.

Children of Invention is coming back home to Boston for a one week engagement at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge on February 26th. You can also catch it in New York and Los Angeles the week of March 12th.  You can also purchase the DVD as well.



Special thanks to Children of Invention for providing a discount on the purchase of the DVD.

Harry Potter Exhibition in Boston - One More Month!

For my birthday, we went to see the Harry Potter Exhibition at the Museum of Science in Boston. It was far better than we could have imagined.  The only downside was that no photography was allowed.  I was tempted to shoot surreptitiously (I love these kind of challenges), but I only had my point and shoot camera and there were too many guards around.  Plus, what kind of example would I be setting for my kids?  They will have plenty of other opportunities to learn how their mom pushes the envelope.  We settled for the program afterwards, where the photography was not quite up to snuff, but still better than just memories.

In 2006, we saw the Star Wars exhibit at the Museum of Science, which was cool, but nothing phenomenal.  Sure, there were ship replicas, droids, and costumes, but it was just a static display, nothing to draw you in.


Adam and Dova in front of the wizard chess knight in the lobby of the Museum of Science.

Walking into the Harry Potter exhibit was like walking into Hogwarts.  It was magical.  From the rich textured fabrics of Harry's and Ron's beds, to the oversize Jack in the Box and the boggart chest, everything was so real.  Walking from room to room brought more and more awesome displays.  The kids' favorite activity was to pull the mandrakes out of the pots, where they screamed and scowled at you.


Image from the Harry Potter Exhibition gallery.

One of the most vivid displays was the dementors.  You can't really see them in the movies (or the program), but inside they are creepy skeletons with long arms and hands, and a long backbone with no pelvis or legs.  Chilling to the bone.

You could walk through Hagrid's hut and see his gigantic kitchen and costume. Turning the corner, was the wall of Education Decrees tacked up to the ceiling and finally the great hall with candles hanging in the air (OK, it was a bit smaller, but it had the same feel).  My favorite costume was Hermione's dress from the yule ball, the fabrics were absolutely exquisite and Emma Watson was so petite!  Even Daniel Radcliffe's clothes from the first movie were tiny, there would be no way that Adam at age 9 could fit into Daniel's clothes at age 11.

The model of the phoenix Fawkes was quite striking as well.  He stood perched eye level with you and his tail feathers almost touched the ground.  His orange and red colors were really vivid and I was tempted to secretly whip out my camera again.

At the end, the store was even spectacular.  There was a display of wands in boxes stacked just like in Ollivander's wand shop.  You could purchase a Marauder's map for $40!!???!!  There weren't even any footsteps in them.  Of course, I caved and bought Adam a (ridiculously expensive) wand and Dova this shirt which she layered for the winter.

 

But my biggest regret was that I continued to think that I couldn't take pictures in the store.  The store isn't part of the exhibit so I should be able take pictures! Pictures of Ollivander's wand shop, of the Marauder's Map, of all the cool wands (plus I need to get Dumbledore's wand for myself... but not because I crave power...).  So we are going back to see it again!  Because I am obsessed!

If you live in the Boston area, the exhibit will be here for one more month until February 21st.  Since tickets are pricey, it is worthwhile just getting the Museum of Science membership (plus you can see the HP exhibit again cheaply if you are obsessed like I am).  It also gets you a 10% discount in the shop if you are compelled to buy wands.  Next stop for this exhibit is Toronto from April 9, 2010 - August 22, 2010.  Don't miss it!

This American Life Live!

I eagerly went to the This American Life Live! event in movie theaters a couple weeks ago. If you missed it, you can see an encore performance on May 7th, 2009 (I know it's today... I could never be a real-time reporter). It is well worth it! Just click on the button below for more information:



The pre-show was even fun, with quizzes and interesting wordplay.



We got a wave from "our boss" Torey Malatia.



When the show finally started, I was mesmerized and didn't take many more pictures. Besides, my friend said that he could see my camera's red auto focus beam hitting the screen (had the point and shoot).



It was definitely a different experience seeing Ira Glass larger than life on the big screen. I watched in awe as he pressed buttons on his audio console like a conductor. The episode was Return to the Scene of the Crime. It didn't have to do with criminals, OK some petty ones in the prologue, but it mostly highlighted some of the regular contributors. I even listened to the entire episode on the podcast again, to see what made into the radio show from 90 minute live show.

Mike Birbiglia started Act One with a nightmare story involving a drunk driver who t-boned his rental car. When he found out that the completely botched police report named him at fault, he embarked on a crusade to right the wrong. I loved seeing the police report and the actual napkin where he had madly scribbled out a plan during the live show.

Starlee Kine performed a piece about a retreat using the Hoffman Process with a Post-It Note Story. You guys who just listen to the radio show totally missed this. It was hilarious!

Dan Savage stole the show with a moving account of flirting with Catholism after his mother's death. Dan is a gay sex advice columnist whose lifestyle could never be reconciled with the faith that he was brought up with. It was funny, it was moving, and it totally made me cry.

Last but not least (and out of order in the radio show), Joss Whedon sang a DVD commentary number after a short viewing of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. If I hadn't see the video during the show, I probably would've missed the fact that Dr. Horrible is played by Neil Patrick Harris, aka Doogie Howser MD. I loved Doogie!

We also got a glimpse of a segment from the This American Life TV show. I've seen the show in passing on TV, and it really didn't speak to me, but this piece about John Smith was pretty interesting. If you missed the show and the radio broadcast, you can always listen to the podcast (download it quick while it's still free).

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

In the late 1970's, when I was around 10 years old, my mother took me sightseeing to the top of the World Trade Center.  I remember being extremely high up and looking down at the impossibly small cars on the street.  I remember seeing the other twin tower right over there.  Both towers had hundreds TV and radio antennae reaching up even higher into the sky.  But I never thought that these monumental towers would cease to exist.  That my walk on top would become just a fleeting memory never to be experienced by anyone after 2001.  Since I vividly remember physically touching and being on top of the World Trade Center, I've always had this fascination to search for the towers in old video footage, old books, old souvenirs, you name it.

Man on Wire: Philippe Petit, James Marsh

This year's Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Man on Wire, the improbably story of Philippe Petit's quest to walk between the World Trade Center Towers on a tightrope.  I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure the documentary is completely inspirational and exhilarating.  I was first introduced to this amazing story by the children's book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. 

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

The illustrations by Mordicai Gerstein in this Caldecott Medal book are phenomenal.  They capture the whimsical nature of Petit's hour long dance upon the wire, as well as the majestic grace of the towers themselves.  The illustrations will simply take your breath away.  "As long as he stayed on the wire he was free."  I can't imagine being a quarter of a mile up in the air with death a mere wind gust away as being free.  But even if you experience vertigo watching the actual footage in the documentary, you can experience the freedom with these illustrations.

Scholastic recently made a video of this story and others.  Most Scholastic videos are simply narrations of the story with illustrations from the book as a backdrop.  This one has a read-along feature where the words are displayed and highlighted during the narration. Check it out, or enter to win your copy at Mom Most Traveled by March 27th.

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers... and More Inspiring Tales

Wall-E Bargain Found at Walt Disney World

When we were at Walt Disney World, I brought along the DVD for Wall-E to watch while we were there. We ended up watching the movie about three times since Dova kept falling asleep. All of us absolutely loved the movie. Some people criticize it for beating its values over your head and the lack of dialogue, but I felt that it was extremely compelling with or without dialogue. I especially loved Eve, or Eva as Dova insists, because she was so sleek, powerful and snobby to begin with, but then came through with a heart of gold.

The only place we spotted any Wall-E toys at Walt Disney World was in the DisneyQuest Emporium store in Downtown Disney.  They had these Construct-A-Bot Wall-E and Eve toys that were held together by magnets.  At $14.95 a piece, I thought it was a bit frivolous to get.  I checked on the internet later and couldn't find these toys anywhere for less than $25.  The best price at Amazon was $35!

By the last day, everyone in my family had gotten some kind of souvenir to bring home except for me.  We went back to the store and purchased these robots holding hands here.  I carried them onto the airplane and brought them home.  Nowadays, the cheapest you can find them online is through the DisneyShopping.com at $16.95 a piece plus shipping.  But at $14.95 a piece plus Florida tax, we got a steal.  Who would think that buying something right at Walt Disney World would be cheaper than anywhere else?  So if you love Wall-E and happen to be near Downtown Disney in Orlando, head on over to the DisneyQuest Emporium store.  They also give you the boot with the plant to put inside Eve, her gun arm, and two sets of arms for Wall-E (they are actually both installed in this photo).

And if you haven't seen the movie, get it now!

Wall-E (Widescreen Single-Disc Edition): $13.99

Fight Club - Does this make me a Brad Pitt fan?

Fight Club (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

In our household, Doug and I have totally different tastes in movies. I love suspense, drama and dark psychological thrillers (and classic musicals too, but that's another story). He likes more lighter fare, such as comedies, and even romance (gag me!). I don't like extremely violent films, and I actually walked out of Natural Born Killers. But in the case of Fight Club, I heard enough about it to know that I had to see it. Doug refused to see it because it had fighting in it. But I won't rule out a movie on violence alone, as it is often a necessary device in a story such as this.

I saw Fight Club on one of my business trips last year. It totally blew my mind and I loved it. Yes, fighting is a component, but the psychological mind warp is the main crux of the movie. The inner life of an insomniac exposed (which I can relate to). It pushes sanity right to the edge and into psychosis.  After the plot revealed itself in the end, I thought of watching it again with the twist in mind. But there was no need to, since the scenes had been seared into my memory. I can remember just about every scene, in great detail, even now a year later. I tried to convince Doug to watch it after I got home, but he still refused. I tried to explain that it was originally optioned by a female producer, Laura Zisken, but that didn't help either. Not even saying that it is now one of my all time favorite movies could convince him.

The fact that I love this movie and several other similar movies with Brad Pitt makes me wonder if I can call myself a fan of Brad Pitt. I always thought of him as a pretty boy with no substance. Maybe my previous dislike for him comes from my disdain of Jennifer Aniston (I totally don't understand why guys find her attractive - not cute, not smart and not talented). These movies have totally changed my perspective of Brad: Se7en, 12 Monkeys, Fight Club, and Babel. These are not your run-of-the-mill blockbusters. Yes, he is wildly successful and the target of paparazzi especially in conjuction with Angelina Jolie. But have his "fans" really seen these movies? Se7en is quite disturbing is definitely not for the light of heart (I will not be asking Doug to see that one). Are these movies successful because of him, or is he successful because of them?

This also reminds me of girls who like Johnny Depp vs. girls who like Brad Pitt. (I picked two random links of crazy fans from YouTube, and I think the Brad Pitt girls are embarrassing...) Ten years ago, I would've have definitely said Johnny Depp for his looks and quirky yet sensitive roles in movies. I could not get past Brad Pitt's pretty face and actually look at his work. But in the last few years, these movies have made me think twice. Perhaps I will have to join the ranks of the mindless fandom, but only as a moviephile.  But still, if I were to choose, I would still pick Depp.

Movies with MIT and my long lost twin brother

On my plane flights to and from Canada, I was lucky to have planes with on-demand movie screens built into the seat back. On the way up, I watched half of Iron Man. I was extremely curious about this movie because I recently learned that the fictional character Tony Stark graduated in my MIT class of 1987.


Image from Matt McGann's MIT Admission blog.

According to the Wikipedia bio:

Anthony Stark was born on Long Island, the son of Howard Stark, a wealthy industrialist and head of Stark Industries, and Maria Stark. Tony is a boy genius, entering MIT at the age of 15, and graduating at the top of his class.

Wait a minute! I'm from Long Island and entered MIT at the age of 16. Stark could be my long lost twin brother (OK, Irish twin)! Alas, in the movie he graduated at 17, which I find highly unlikely as even this girl genius needed the full four years to graduate. And no, that is not our class ring, as the profile of the MIT skyline was incorporated only in later years.

On the way back, I was looking forward to seeing the end of the movie, but it wasn't offered. So I did the next best thing and watched another movie about MIT, 21. The opening sequence of shots around the campus immediately took me back to the old days. But as soon as they went inside, it wasn't MIT at all. Or at least the MIT I remember. No 26-100 or 10-250 or all the old quaint classrooms with wooden pull-up desks in building 3 for Course 2. Just some generic college classrooms with Kevin Spacey as a professor.


Image Peter Iovino—Columbia Pictures from The Tech.

I only watched half of this movie as well, so now I gotta watch the rest of both movies. It was great to finally see my twin brother and catch a glimpse of MIT again.

October 7, 2008 - edited to add:
I recently read in my alumni magazine that some of the original members of the MIT blackjack team appear in the film including Jeffrey Ma, '94, who is the real-life basis for the character Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess).

Jeff Ma '94, the inspiration for the main character in both the book and the movie, appears as a Las Vegas dealer, and Henry Houh '89 (who has five MIT degrees, including a PhD) plays a dealer in a card house in Boston's Chinatown. Albert M. Chan, SM '99, PhD '04, also makes a cameo appearance as a card dealer, and iRobot cofounder Colin Angle '89, SM '91, plays Professor Hanes, who calls out the winner of a robot competition.