The Mr. in my apartment

...being cute.

Where the Wild Things Are

A review on IMDB claims

"You will never see boyhood captured as truthfully on film as it is in the film's first 20 minutes."

  Maybe this is the idea that disturbed me most about the film.  Max is all over the place!  I've often said I don't think I'd be up for the challenge of raising boys.  I can think of a handful of my friends who all have little boys (who of course are all doing a wonderful job), so I think it's fair for me to plan for girls to help even out the ratio...  Genetics seem to be in my favor - there are only 2 boys among my 13 cousins.  I'll take gossip and pouting over fights and destruction any day.

The actor who plays Max is adorable and I think they did a decent job of making the monsters.  It was the desctruction and violence and angst they added that I didn't like.  It's no longer a fanciful journey to a place where it's always party time, now it's a story about an angry young boy surrounded by unpredictable, immature, emotionally volatile creatures who will hug you one minute and rip another's arm off the next.  I didn't leave the theater wanting to frolic and play, I left disturbed by the many ways people can hurt each other (physically and emotionally).  Reading articles about the film you come across the statement that this isn't a children's film, it's a film about children.  As another review on IMDB explains,

"These beasts are the manifestations of our sorrow, our frustration, and our demons; they are the voices living within us, kept down by self-control and overcome by happiness and love. However, when those emotions are brought to life, unchecked, the end result can be nothing short of war, retribution, and malice."

  How is this a recipe for anything but a rather dark movie?

In short, I'd have to agree with the following reviewer:

"It's an interesting concept, turning a children's book into Freud 101, but is seems dark and oppressive. I realize Sendak's book was visually dark, but emotionally is was vibrant and happy, much like the melody to "Wake Up" by Arcade Fire that was used in the trailer. Unfortunately, this film desperately fails to be vibrant and happy, and for a movie based on a children's book that many parents will take their children to see, it's a major flaw. "

Bit of wisdom

"The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." - Voltaire

I read about people reaching a point in adolescence when they realize their parents are not infallible.  And the shock that comes with this.  While I don't recall having such a moment myself, I do remember my shock at discovering physicians are not infallible.

"It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to get one single remedy." - Chinese Proverb

It's tempting to think if you can just explain things the right way, or if they could just feel it for themselves, the diagnosis and appropriate treatment would be obvious.

"Despite all our toil and progress, the art of medicine still falls somewhere between trout casting and spook writing." - Ben Hecht, Miracle of the Fifteen Murderers

Alas, we are all limited by our own senses and experiences.  And the body still manages to hide its secrets and evade the simple answer, no matter how much technology we throw at it.  And so it goes.

"Doctors think a lot of patients are cured who have simply quit in disgust." - Don Herold

Fall is here!

Just in the last two weeks or so the temperature has dropped along with a healthy dose of leaves, confirming that it is indeed officially fall.  I've pulled out my down comforter and have been eying the thermostat, stubbornly refusing to start turning on the heat quite yet.  Sweaters are now useful outside of my office, as well as in it, and the rains have returned.

As a warm-up for Thanksgiving, here are a couple of things I'm thankful for not having:

• Classes starting
• Lawn maintenance
• A job outside