Che rides...

Thoughts on "The Motorcycle Diaries":

Cinematography of South America: gorgeous

Gael Garcia Bernal: también

Rodrigo de la Serna: very entertaining

La Poderosa (the motorcycle): hilarious

The story:  Interesting; rambling like a long road trip, with lots of the very small moments and discoveries that cumulatively add up to a portrait of a young man on a journey encountering things that will change him profoundly and set him on the path to the myth – but all before the myth: a sensitive, intelligent, complex, and sickly soul just forming, just becoming a man. I should also say it’s often very funny.

Resonance for today: The injustice in the world, sometimes appallingly cruel, will always call forth some movement to counter it. In this case communism, in the current world, terrorism. These movements create their own injustices, of course. But so long as the powerful refuse to recognize and address the real issues, to hold their own power and that of their friends as their own birthright with any means justifying the end of staying in power at the expense of others, we will continue to have revolutionaries – terrorists of our day – striking out to try to call attention to and redress the problems. (The movie, by the way, addresses Che’s life long before he becomes a revolutionary. What may happen with similarly bright young men today encountering today’s injustices, much of which they can point to the West, to the U.S., as either being responsible for or supporting?)

Venue: Avon Cinema on Thayer St. in Providence, near the Brown University campus – kind of what Harvard Square used to be before it yuppified, only much smaller. With actual parking within a couple of blocks of where you want to go!

 So, do I want to go to South America? You bet! But with more reliable transportation and a bit more cash, bourgeois as I am.

8:37:27 PM      trackback [] 

Life in the big city

[Old Upton Rd., Grafton MA, Oct.16]

I went out with my housemate K last night as a last minute thing. She was meeting her classmate/ friend Karen at the pub in the Grafton Inn, which we could have walked to if it wasn’t dark and raining since it’s less than a mile away. (This is not the city – you don’t especially want to walk up a hill slick with wet leaves, with no sidewalk and no shoulder, in the dark.) Karen needed to get out of the house – vet school students study constantly – and it occurred to me that I’ve also been stuck in the house way too much lately. Socially, I mean. I get into this working-at-home never-seeing-anyone living-in-the-boondocks rut sometimes. (I should write a country song.) So last night I put a bit of makeup on and headed up to our townie “hot spot.” It turned out to be fun. Karen brought her housemate, a non-vet-student guy, who was nice, and another vet student and her husband showed up – Yankee fans, but since the Sox-Yankees game got rained out we let them sit with us. ;-)

I used to have a bunch of local (around Worcester) people who hung out regularly after work on Thursdays at a happy hour, but that fizzled out a couple of years ago. I do need to find some local social life again – not so easy out here among the young-family types as it would be in the city. But, this afternoon – off to Providence to see "The Motorcycle Diaries"…

2:28:12 PM      trackback []