2001-01-25
feeling kinda
ooooohhhh. i dunno about this. the cast list for the Harry Potter film has some wonderful treats, such as the ever-delicious Alan Rickman as Severus Snape. but Richard Harris as Dumbledore? eh. all wrong. all wrong, i tell you! of course, i'll have to see it, because i adore Alan Rickman. and Harry Potter. i'm on the second go-round with the series. it's amazing to me that there's just so much in these books, on so many levels. granted, we're not talking Homer's Iliad. but they are damn fine books that can be appreciated by children of all ages.
one thing i remember quite clearly from ... well, ages ago - i was about 8 at the time, i think - is my dad reading The Hobbit out loud to me and my brother every night. what a great story! the images that Tolkein's words wove have stayed with me a long time. when i was in London this summer, i had the great good fortune to catch an exhibit at the British Museum which included an audio clip of Tolkein reading a poem in Elvish. unbelievable to me that he could invent an entire language. after dad read us The Hobbit, i went off and read the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy. Aragorn was, and still is, my favorite character. i recently got an interesting series from Zooba on Tolkein and the Christian symbolism thruout the books. Tolkein took his reactions to the brutality of war and the unfairness of class warfare and fashioned an entire other world to reflect those tensions. most noticably, there is no pure good or evil. everything has the possibility of redemption or downfall, and every success requires sacrifice. funny, missed all that the first time around. but that certainly didn't detract from the books then, nor will looking at them thru that filter detract now. in fact, i think it will add.
the Harry Potter series is in a different category, but for it's own reasons, grabs me in a way similar to Tolkein's work. the fact that Harry's greatest protection is the love of his parents, a love that cost them their lives, is a powerful idea to share with a child. and i love that Harry isn't perfect. even tho he's an unwittingly powerful wizard, he still has to deal with the same playground bullies we all did.
oof. i've been ridiculously dizzy all day, rendering me nearly useless. i haven't had a vertigo attack like this in quite some time. maybe i'm not getting enough liquids? or it could be that i'm getting sick... my gym buddy has been fighting off a cold/flu thing for a few days, and i'm a little feverish today. she thought it might be an inner ear infection, but don't those usually affect your hearing, or at least hurt? hearing is fine, and nothing hurts. i just can't turn my head much. even lying down, i feel dizzy. lemme tell ya, that made the Technogym orientation we did at the gym this morning quite the treat. i wasn't even sure i could sit in the car long enough to get there. and when the trainer asked me to adjust the seat? nope. sorry, i'm not going to flip my head down to look under the seat. no way. not unless you want to see me hit the floor in the process.
oh, the Technogym machines... they are pretty and comfortable (as comfortable as anything that's gonna kick your butt can be). the seats have curves! they are not flat planks! they admit that human beings of imperfect shapes and sizes will be using the equipment! and they are pistachio! i'm actually pretty excited about doing weight training again, in addition to the free weight stuff i've been doing. and this machine and i are going to have a very cantankerous relationship. it's fabulous, because it essentially gives a little form and structure to my free weight routine without going so far as to lock you into a specific track. but even just trying it out this morning, my triceps are a wee bit sore. just wait until i do a couple of sets. they may have to mop me off the floor, where i'll be swearing a blue streak, describing in colorful terms to the machine how i hate being reduced to a puddle. it's always bad when you talk back to inanimate objects.
random observation: it would appear that Matthew McCaugnahey indulges in far too much of the herb. his 'interview' (and i use the term loosely) on The Daily Show the other night was hilarious and barely held together. i've never seen Jon laugh that hard.
thing to cross off the new to do list tonite: get a new laundry rack. i can only cold wash 5 things at a time right now, because that's as many hangers as my shower rod will take. this is not good. i want one of those clean, white, resin-coated, rust-resistant, sets-itself-up-so-you-don't-get-annoyed-and-pitch-it-out-the-back-door-in-frustration, multi tiered kinda ones. i think they'll have it at Tags.
