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1.
Last post about movies for a while, I promise. I just wanted to put in a quick plug for When Do We Eat? (2005), a dysfunctional family Passover Seder comedy that I watched last night after my little seder-for-one and a phone call to my mom still left me feeling a lack of satisfying connection to the holiday.
First: A Passover movie exists! Second: It was not terrible! I mean, all the characters were stock/caricatures, but somehow they nonetheless came across as people. And it was funny, even more so if you've sat through your share of sulky Four Questions recitations, rushed/monotonous/sarcastic Haggadah readings, stupid family fights, interruptions that extend an already endless pre-dinner ceremony, tales of afikomen adventures from years past, etc. Also, I confess I teared up when the grandfather talked about the family he'd lost in the war.
Plot: druggie son in an extended stepfamily slips his overbearing father some E in his antacid at the start of the family's first Seder in three years for a little revenge and in the hope of some excitement. Drama, spiritual connection, hijinks and the beginnings of reconciliation ensue. There are rabbi jokes and incest jokes and a random Israeli hunk with an eye patch. There is the world's oddest plot with an autistic sibling. There's a borderline offensive moment when the black lesbian not-quite-sister-in-law turns a Haggadah reading into gospel, saved by the fact that she means it, that the grandfather connects to it, and that it highlights some parallels between Christian and Jewish joy (as it illustrates one of the brother's [and also Eddie Izzard's] point that religious readings in America generally could use some joy). Some moments fall flat, and the ending is a bit packaged/sentimental, but a coda confirms that there will be backsliding before the family achieves true improvement. It's a typical quirky family-holiday comedy, except there aren't many about Passover, and that made it great (for me).
Happy Passover, my Passover-celebrating friends. Happy Easter. Happy weekend. Happiness to you in general.
2.
Here, here is a non-movie thing. There was a meme going around recently where you post seven lines from the seventh page of your most recent work in progress? I skipped it because my WsIP aren't that long, ha. But then I worked on one last weekend and lo, it now has seven pages. So:
3.
Also! While watching this week's Community, I was trying to figure out what the format reminded me of (beyond PBS history documentaries, that is), and somewhere around the texts between Annie and Jeff it hit me: Written by the Victors! Multiple accounts of events from scholars/participants with their own biased perspectives. Ha.
Relatedly: Did you know today is/was International Pillow Fight Day? I wonder if the air date was a coincidence. Possible post-hiatus decision, that is.
Last post about movies for a while, I promise. I just wanted to put in a quick plug for When Do We Eat? (2005), a dysfunctional family Passover Seder comedy that I watched last night after my little seder-for-one and a phone call to my mom still left me feeling a lack of satisfying connection to the holiday.
First: A Passover movie exists! Second: It was not terrible! I mean, all the characters were stock/caricatures, but somehow they nonetheless came across as people. And it was funny, even more so if you've sat through your share of sulky Four Questions recitations, rushed/monotonous/sarcastic Haggadah readings, stupid family fights, interruptions that extend an already endless pre-dinner ceremony, tales of afikomen adventures from years past, etc. Also, I confess I teared up when the grandfather talked about the family he'd lost in the war.
Plot: druggie son in an extended stepfamily slips his overbearing father some E in his antacid at the start of the family's first Seder in three years for a little revenge and in the hope of some excitement. Drama, spiritual connection, hijinks and the beginnings of reconciliation ensue. There are rabbi jokes and incest jokes and a random Israeli hunk with an eye patch. There is the world's oddest plot with an autistic sibling. There's a borderline offensive moment when the black lesbian not-quite-sister-in-law turns a Haggadah reading into gospel, saved by the fact that she means it, that the grandfather connects to it, and that it highlights some parallels between Christian and Jewish joy (as it illustrates one of the brother's [and also Eddie Izzard's] point that religious readings in America generally could use some joy). Some moments fall flat, and the ending is a bit packaged/sentimental, but a coda confirms that there will be backsliding before the family achieves true improvement. It's a typical quirky family-holiday comedy, except there aren't many about Passover, and that made it great (for me).
Happy Passover, my Passover-celebrating friends. Happy Easter. Happy weekend. Happiness to you in general.
2.
Here, here is a non-movie thing. There was a meme going around recently where you post seven lines from the seventh page of your most recent work in progress? I skipped it because my WsIP aren't that long, ha. But then I worked on one last weekend and lo, it now has seven pages. So:
"Bashir!"*suspense*
On the table, Karin looked like she was spacing out. A blessing, perhaps.
"Five seconds before I turn this on again," Rothka warned.
"Enough," said Kovan. "This has to stop."
Bashir at least had the decency to have broken out in a sweat and look half as anguished as Kovan felt. "We can't."
3.
Also! While watching this week's Community, I was trying to figure out what the format reminded me of (beyond PBS history documentaries, that is), and somewhere around the texts between Annie and Jeff it hit me: Written by the Victors! Multiple accounts of events from scholars/participants with their own biased perspectives. Ha.
Relatedly: Did you know today is/was International Pillow Fight Day? I wonder if the air date was a coincidence. Possible post-hiatus decision, that is.
