[lit-ideas] Re: Crosswords, or Movies with Copious Wine
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2006 11:19:13 -0800
On Dec 24, 2006, at 9:32 AM, Erin Holder wrote:
I used to, actually. Then I ceased having time and an interest (or
maybe it was an interest and then time). I also liked making absurdly
difficult word searches. Ah, the glory and vigor of youth. Wait a
sec, I still am a youth. I think. Am I? What's a youth? Alas, no
time for that now. It's "MOVIES WITH COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF WINE" day!
Hurrah!
I don't do crosswords; they're too much like the daily puzzles of work,
a busman's holiday. But this aversion doesn't stop occupants of the
house asking me to disinter the names of rivers in France and other
dull facts which sometimes occupy that space in my brain which could be
taken up with, say, remembering people's names. We watched a movie,
"Wordplay," about crossword puzzle people quite recently. Those of you
who enjoy such puzzles may like the movie. You'll get to see who among
our famous people does crosswords, and be impressed by folk who can, in
front of a large audience in a hotel room, solve a Sunday New York
Times puzzle in about three minutes.
As for "Movies with Copious Wine" day...
Music is a bit of a touchy subject hereabouts this a.m. My wife's
office staff tunes the radio to some sort of Christmas station and she
isn't grinch enough to say "no." But when she, a Jew, comes home, the
last thing she wants to hear is Christmas music. I, a pagan or
something of that ilk, who spends much of the Christmas run-up in
silence, grading papers, look forward to a few days of Christmas music
just before Christmas. Yesterday I put on a CD that wasn't even
Christmas music. It was of a boy treble, his voice soaring over a
choir in a cathedral. Quite wonderful. My wife complained, citing the
precedent of me complaining when she puts on contemporary jazz. (It's
a very solid precedent--I don't like jazz after World War Two and when
she puts on contemporary jazz, I find I can listen to very little of
such music before I have to leave the room.) This morning I could in
turn have cited last night's precedent, in true argumentative fashion,
when she put on klezmer music for Christmas eve morn. Instead, I have
come to write. Christmas is the only time we run into friction over
cultural heritage differences. But we always do. Ah, the price of not
marrying a Methodist.
Good cheer to end with? Yesterday evening we watched, "Scrooged,"
which was fine up until the peroration. Bill Murray gets a speech at
the end which hits its theme in his second breath and then elaborates
in the manner of Victorians. Though the speech only takes a few
minutes to deliver, it seems about Victorian length, on the order of
three hours.
On Friday, after much running around and chasing new hearing aids--my
father's current pastime--all of us except my wife (who was stuck at
work, listening to Christmas music) popped into the new James Bond
movie. Like Andreas, we all thought it good. I'm now hoping for an
Aston Martin for Christmas. As are, I'm sure, a good number among the
U.S. adult population. Maybe someone could start manufacturing a
knock-off in China or Bhutan? Soon?
David Ritchie,
wishing you all a merry everything from
Portland, Oregon
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