Click images for desktop size: "On Day in the Big City" by Justin Maller It was not a very good weekend.
On Saturday it rained all night and continued to rain all through Sunday. My friend needed to go into work but her computer system was down so she had to stay home and watch her schedule and deadlines flitter away.
I'm selfish enough to not have minded that. I like having her around.
Then the cat who has looked near death for a while showed up with a wooden tongue and some pretty nasty revolting causes for it. Tried to clean her up. Did a good job of it. It was harder on my friend than on me. I don't like that. Not because I've had too much experience with tragedy and destruction but because I don't like anyone else having to know what its like. She soldiered on pretty well. I'll never like other people having to be tough.
It bothers me the most that she holds herself responsible and sees the cat's illness and mortality as her fault. I respect people taking responsibility for the world. It saddens me when that responsibility becomes a source of pain.
She then began the arduous task of clipping the Giant dog. Maybe as an act of penance but most likely because he really needs to be clipped.
The Giant dog was astonishingly cool about the whole thing. It was amazing because a few days before he went ballistic at the sight of a scissors and the sound of the clippers. He looks silly now, but he enjoys looking silly.
She also made Blueberry muffins and homemade Frosty Paws for the dogs! Actually the blueberry muffins were for us. The dogs never got any of them but since they refused to share their Frosty Paws I guess that's all fair.
My friend then pointed out she doesn't like me being so possessive of things, like "my giant dog", "my blueberries", "my kids". Its my habit. I know its not always a bad habit. Its a lever I use, I guess, for inspiration and to keep my dedication up. It requires more thought from me.
I did get to watch a mess of movies. That always elevates me.

Click images for desktop size: "Untitled" by A Brito For some reason in the West and particularly America there's not a lot of respect or credence given to internet writers. I mean people who set up web sites to publish their fiction. I'm not talking about blogs that get picked up by publishers. The ones they pick up always seem to be of the "Emma Bombeck" school of treacle.
Its like Preston Sturges said in "Christmas In July": "I know its a good idea because somebody else said it was. I didn't get where I am today by trusting my own judgement!"
Just because some metricious reader at a publishing house or a get richer literary agent has passed on a work that the writer believes in we, the public, seem to want to side with the establishment and ignore work that hasn't been pre-screened for us, usually screened by people we wouldn't want to have as friends or who wouldn't want to have to talk to us.
In Asia that prejudice isn't nearly as rampant, in fact some writers web sites are checked frequently, the readers as anxious for the next installment as Victorian readers waited impatiently for the next Dickens part or Sherlock Holmes episode.
The Japanese and Korean film makers have even made some extraordinary films based on internet novels. "My Sassy Girl" and "My Heart Cries Love At The Center Of The Universe" come immediately to mind. This writer Gwiyeoni, a south Korean will now only publish his stuff on the internet. His stories have made some great great movies, like "He Was Cool".
All the internet novel movies share some things in common, aside from a freshness and a unique way at approaching life. There's the ready acceptance of technology and the impact that it has on our lives and on our relationships. There's a deep down respect for humanity, a respect that is deepened not deaden by the tech. The stories are deeply melodramatic and romantic. They see humor in tragedy in each melodramatic occurrence. People act like people and not always as we expect or want. Every person has a point of view that is different from the object of affection and that never creates friction, just understanding.
And the movies are always about the young.
The latest internet novel movie out of Korea has made the stars celebrities. It was a monster hit and yet I was seriously disappointed. "Do Re Mi So Pa La Ti Do" looks vaguely promising in a teeny bopper sort of way. Its about a cute girl and a cute boy. He's in a band and does a lot of K-Pop songs.
They fall in love with all the intensity and devotion that only teenagers can really inspire in each other. Except she has a past. This is one part of the problem. The tawdry past isn't very tawdry.
It all leads to a massive headache that only happens because of the selfishness of frightened youth.
Click images for desktop size: "Pueblo Street Market" by Unknown The male star has a total psychotic break and regresses to infantilism.
The heroine decides to recreate the massive trauma that led to his break. Now the sensibility of this is pretty darn questionable. It does lead to one of the great lines in the movie when a fem member of the band says to the heroine, "Why can't you leave him alone! Maybe he's happier the way he is."
Of course it all works out . . . for everybody I guess.
There are some cool scenes and some fascinating characters but the movie never astonished or amazed.
The only other movie of note was a real oldie. Ernest Lubitsch's "To Be Or Not To Be". Made in 1942 and Lubitsch's response to having to flee Europe and the Nazi's its a film that makes titters guffaws and a lovely feeling of contentment and wistful happiness. Carol Lombard really proves why she is a legendary movie actress. Jack Benny is delightful. All the scenes work exactly as you'd hope. It never sinks to bathos and was just a pleasant way to end a tumultuous weekend.