In the Theater: Norwegian Wood

Since yesterday's theater outing wasn't the best (this does not refer to the company I was keeping at the time, but to the choice of movie) I decided to give it another go tonight. I met up with Cat at the International Film Center downtown to see the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood.

I hate to say it, because I so wanted to love it, but this moving was Boring. Yup, that's right, with a capital b. I'm sure it didn't help that I saw this movie at my bedtime with Cat dozing off and yawning next to me, but wide awake I'm sure it would have at least got a boring with a little b. Now let me tell you why!


It started off really disjointed, showing scenes that added nothing to the story and this continued somewhat throughout the whole movie. Someone, somewhere, has an editing problem. Beware the 2+ hour movie.

You never really got to know or care for any of the characters. A lot of the characters, although important in the book, are superfluous in the movie, just thrown in here and there and you wonder why bother? Although the two relationships are the focus of the movie, you don't get to see their evolution, which is probably why it was hard to sympathize with any of them. I would have liked to have seen a difference in the scenes between the two girls to help visualize the choice he had to make. Keep the time with Naoko slow, boring, with little dialogue and the time with Midori exciting and entertaining. At first this is what I thought the intention was, but both relationships just turned dull. If I were Watanabe I would have said 'so long' to both.

There were many over the top dramatic scenes. It was so hard for me not to laugh. My favorite was when it showed Watanabe wailing into the air atop a rock, a long string of drool hanging from his mouth and flying in the wind. It went on for five minutes and that drool string never broke. Was I really supposed to be moved by that?? I did note a line I would like to scream-sob at a future boyfriend or sister or even family dog: "Your presence is painful to me!"

For all its faults, it was a really pretty movie though! The winter scenes alone would have made me want to die inside. But in addition to having to see snow and wind, we were sitting next to some sort of air vent that was blowing cold air on to us. It was what those interactive movies from 5th grade should have been. Another plus, if you could call it that, was that I coveted all their apartments filled with 60's decor and their cute clothes. But that's not enough to give this movie my approval. I hope that this movie hasn't convinced Cat to never read a Murakami book!

Finally the movie ended and I could head home to my nice, warm bed. This is when the drama finally began for the night. When I got back to my stop to catch the 1, the clock struck 12 and the subway systems underwent their transformations from a model for national transportation to out of order, out of order, out of order. Suffice it to say there was walking to different stations and many transfers. One train I got on smelled like shit, literally. I was only going up one stop so I decided to tough it out, out of sheer laziness. There were only two other people on the train who either had colds, fake noses, are suffered from extreme laziness as well, so I had a pretty unobstructed view of the benches and underneath. I looked around for the poo, but couldn't see anything. I know it was there somewhere. I hope the reason I didn't see it was not because I was sitting in it. I should check the back of my coat in the morning.

- Megan Leigh

In The Theater: Woman In Black

Our newly added happiness goal is to start seeing adult (no, not that kind of adult) movies in the theater at least once a month. I see on average one movie a year, which is pretty depressing, because I really enjoy seeing movies on the big screen! "But who doesn't?" You may ask. The lady who wrote The Happiness Project, for one. There are a lot of loonies out there. One of the best times of my life was when my friend Jay was working at a movie theater and we saw all sorts of movies for free. I don't know why he had to quit and get a better paying job, with no benefit to me (except for that little benefit of getting me a job...).

Today was our first movie day. We went down to our local theater at 86th and were ignored by the ticket seller, which confused us. Was the theater not open yet? We went to Barnes & Noble to waste some time and came back, but the ticket man was still ignoring us! Finally he caved and sold us our tickets, which were only $6 before 12:00. What a deal!

Then on to the concession stand. We got kid's packs, which have the perfect size popcorn, soda and chocolate treat. These were priced about a dollar cheaper than normal too. We paid the price in another way: Shame. The ladies standing in line behind us asked what these special packs were. "They're the kid packs," Kristin told her. "They're the perfect size popcorn for us!"

"Those are for you!" They tittered. Our cheeks reddened. We hung our heads and scurried away.

As you might expect for a movie in the morning, the theater was just about empty. And as you also might expect, because it's our luck, someone decided to sit right behind us in the empty theater. And, of course, he was a loud breather. The scariest part of the movie was when he made some really loud snorting noise.

Now let's get to the movie. It was The Woman in Black with Danielle Radcliffe. A horror flick. The story line was just the same old, played out story line: Woman separated from dead baby. Now she haunts and kills other babies until she is reconnected with her own. Or perhaps she'll never stop. I don't know. I'm pretty confused about the ending. I'm not going to waste my time thinking about it too hard, since the rest of the movie was so mediocre. The woman in the bathroom afterwards (not a ghost) thought the same. Loud does not equal scary, we decided as we washed out hands.

- Megan Leigh

Recipe in Progress: Braised Tempeh with Veggies

This was a recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian book. So far, this book has been the less-accomplished younger brother who coasts on the success of his older sister (How to Cook Everything). Nothing has wowed me yet.

The braised tempeh turned out pretty bland. Basically, you stir fry some crumbled tempeh with ginger, garlic, and spices (it smells really good). Then you throw in coconut milk, veggies of your choice (I used chopped cabbage, peas, and okra--I was getting rid of what was in my freezer), and rice noodles. Everything was supposed to be bathed in a fragrant yellow curry sauce, and it looked like it would be tasty. But it was disappointingly tasteless. Boo.

All I would like is to recreate the yummy, soothing yellow curry that you find at a place like Thanh Thao. I have been trying to get there forever, and I haven't gotten any closer. Does anybody have any secrets?

-Kristin

Read More: The Best Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky

I've previously read The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and enjoyed them both (except for that ending of Crime and Punishment!), so I was excited to read his short stories. I figure if you can do well with a huge novel you can definitely write an awesome short story. But I must say he is a much better novel writer if these were his best stories. Most were pretty boring. There were one or two that I did enjoy, though. So it wasn't all for naught. I guess.

Most of the stories had the same reoccurring theme: sad, reclusive man. Some of the sad, reclusive men had good souls, but were destined to a life of loneliness. Most of the sad, reclusive men were little cowardly bastards, looking down their noses at the rest of society, longing to show everyone just how much better they were than the rest. Maybe I felt a bit of an aversion towards these stories because they hit a little too close to home. I could see where my life is headed all too clearly. Watch out world. This bitter woman is coming for you.

- Megan Leigh

Reconnecting with Old Friends: Raisin, Cheerio, Peanut Butter Delight

The other night I was flopping around the kitchen complaining that there was nothing to eat.
"Why is there nothing to eaaattttt?" I bellowed, looking at Kristin accusingly.
"I have to do the dishes. And clean the kitchen. And take out the trash. I do the best I can!" she whined right back at me.
"Do you? DO YOU?" I screamed. Then I relaxed and decided to eat peanut butter crackers.
"We don't have any crackers."
"What!? God dammit. Fine, peanut butter oyster crackers."
She looked at me with disgust. "Oyster crackers? That's weird. What about cheerios?"
"Peanut butter cheerios? That's weirder." But then memories started trickling back. It wasn't weird, it was perfect.

I took off a semester in college and spent a lot of time at Kristin's in Atlanta. For weeks at a time, I holed up in her haunted room watching Passions, reading and eating copious amounts of my special concoction of peanut butter, cheerios and raisins. I was too poor to afford anything else and I never got tired of it. I know the concoction followed me to my dorm in Tampa, but can't recall it making its way over the bridge with me to St. Pete. Somewhere along the way this great joy that was once in my life got lost.

And now it's back. I've eaten four bowls of it since last night. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I'll eat at least two more! Happiness here I come!

- Megan Leigh

One New Thing: New York Transit Museum

Cat decided she wanted to go to the Transit Museum. I said "Let's do this thing. But first we must fill our bellies." We walked towards the tall buildings into downtown Brooklyn. (I'd only been there once when I had to get off at an unpredicted stop before I had my iPhone. I was so lost and confused, but I  eventually made my way to my destination despite the tears clouding my vision.) We walked to a building with a sign that said "Dental" above it. We opened the doors and entered a Shake Shack. A large, marvelous Shake Shack with available seating! Cat received her order quickly, while I had to wait... and wait... and wait. She smacked her lips and said "This is the most delicious food I've ever had. Too bad you can't enjoy it with me." Then she rubbed her belly with her hand in a circular motion and said, "Mmmmm." Or she said, "Sorry, but I'm not going to wait for you." Either way, she exposed herself as a bad friend that day. All was forgiven when my order was finally up. It was delicious. Imaginary Cat was right.

Then on to the transit museum. Cat tried to enter through a locked gate. She was angry because she had been eyeing this entrance for years, just waiting for the day she'd get to go in. We had to walk to the end of the block and down stairs as if entering a subway. Fun, but not as fun as entering through a mysterious barred gate.
Buying tickets Cat said, "This is kind of embarrassing."
Having been embarrassed so many times in my life, I've become a bit inured to it, so had to ask, "But why?"
"Because this is a place you take your kids."
"Hogwash," I said. But I realized she was right when I angrily waited for these dumb kids to get off the vintage bus so I could take a picture driving it too. They never got off the bus. I never got my picture. I feel no shame for the hate in my heart when recalling this memory.

I read a lot about electricity. I still don't understand how they built tunnels underwater. 'Human Geyser' has been added to my 'Things To Do Before I Die' list. But the real fun came when we got to take vintage subway car pictures aplenty. The old subway signs were also fun. There were tons of signs on how to avoid fires. I assume with all those smokers back then things were set ablaze all of the time. I believe Smokey the Bear jokingly referred to cigarettes as "Job Security". My favorite was Etti-Cat. I think of him as a bit of a superhero and if you can hear me out there Etti-Cat, please come back. We need you now more than ever.

- Megan Leigh

Read More: Thunderstruck

I am a sucker for Eric Larson books. On the one hand, they are true crime stories. So you get the voyeuristic pleasure you get from, say, an Ann Rule book. On the other hand, they are full of history you probably didn't know, so you finish a book feeling satisfied that you have bettered yourself. Which means that you don't have to feel so guilty about reading a true crime book! Yes, Eric Larson, I love you.

Thunderstruck follows "the crime of the century." That is, it was one of the biggest crimes of the 20th century when the 20th century was only a few years old. The elements of a great story are all there: a kind-hearted, soft spoken doctor; his brazen and slatternly show-business wife; a great inventor; a Scotland Yard detective who cut his teeth on the Jack the Ripper case. Good stuff! As usual, I learned a lot about a period of history that I don't know much about. For you Downton Abbey fans, this book will be right up your alley, period-wise! And the crime Larson writes about is compelling, as always. I really think that if they taught history classes by having kids read books like this, nobody would think history was boring. Out with the textbooks, and in with the Larson books!

The hard thing about this book is that you end it feeling very sympathetic toward the villain. The poor killer was so put upon that you don't feel very bad about what happened. And the killer came so close to escaping justice and living out his or her days happily! It's always sad when you don't get to finish a book with a happy ending, especially when you know the story is true. Perhaps I should write an alternate ending.

-Kristin