Romances

It's Sunday evening and we just finished eating my new white bean chili (our downstairs friend GR came up to join us). It's been a decent weekend, but not the best I've had in Richmond, mainly because Craig worked all Saturday and even this morning a little. Rain fell pretty hard this weekend and Craig was chasing leaks around the building, bailing water off the roof. Friday night we ate an Asian pasta salad with a thin peanut sauce, red pepper and cucumber strips and carrot sticks. Saturday morning when Craig left for work I settled into the couch to finish The Kite Runner. I had what I'd basically term a reading marathon all day Saturday. There were points where The Kite Runner nearly impressed me for fleeting moments, then lost my interest again. Nevertheless, as a co-founder of our book club I couldn't very well fail to finish our first book, despite the fact I felt like I had tied a pretty bow around my Saturday and pitched it out the window. Evening rolled in and Craig wasn't home yet. He called to let me know he wouldn't be up for a burger at Honey White's with GR and me, so I went ahead without him. GR and I wound up having an epic night of accusing the poor bartender of studying for his GED versus GRE and debates over whether or not there is any sense to the English language (I, of course, defended its honor while she insisted that its rules are nonsensical). We wound up at Sette for the rest of the evening; we also ducked into Movie Gallery for her to rent The Corpse Bride and I persuaded her to rent Elizabethtown (details to follow). Girls' night was a success and I think Craig was able to relax with the Olympics on in the background and naps on the couch. Anyway, this morning we held our first book club meeting. I went down to meet GR and HH (our building manager and friend) and we walked to Cafe Gutenburg to meet LC. We had a triumphant first meeting, all agreed The Kite Runner left us wanting something more. We're reading An Invisible Sign of My Own (Aimee Bender) next, which is my selection (I read it in one sitting in Detroit but will be re-reading it; I positively love this book). And I also love sitting at Cafe Gutenburg with 3 incredibly intelligent women discussing books. The atmosphere there is practically designed for book club meetings. I kept half-tuning in to the music overhead, but I couldn't get a good enough listen to determine what they were playing. But the thing I realized is that maybe the music at Gutenburg is best left at Gutenburg. I think if I found it and stuffed it into my iPod, then listened to it outside of the confines of Gutenburg I might be disappointed. However, whatever it is sounds divine sitting in that perfect cafe. Following that, GR and HH and I stopped at the new River City Diner location for milkshakes with Kahlua (I had an Irish coffee instead). We chatted for a little while and then walked back to our building. When I got home, Craig and I finished watching the new Jodie Foster release that couldn't keep our attention the first time around, and then we ventured to Elizabethtown. In the dimming haze of early Sunday evening, I felt for the first time in quite a while (for a movie) a happy swelling feeling as we watched this. It is a Cameron Crowe movie, after all, and what movie had a bigger impact on me and my pre-twenties than Singles way back when (also Cameron Crowe). The soundtrack to Elizabethtown immediately demands attention (much as the soundtrack for Singles did, and Almost Famous, and Vanilla Sky...) in the opening credits. The melancholy of each mellow song provides a perfect backdrop to this lovely cinematic masterpiece. Orlando Bloom's steady facial expressions and his reactions to events contribute to the slow unraveling of the romance between his character and Kirsten Dunst's, but the significant theme of this movie is the loss of a family member, the varied colorful means of dealing with a loss. There are so many momentous scenes in this film, some wrapped in humor and others in quiet pensive contemplation, but the peak of this story portrays Drew (Orlando Bloom) carrying out the road trip he never took with his deceased father (his father's ashes strapped into the passenger seat in a ceramic urn). Moments of regret tinted with longing "last looks" Drew's narrating voice repeats throughout sketch a beautiful narrative of love, loss and finding the courage and motivation to move on.