Artsy-Fartsy

My wife, Muri, and I see a lot of movies.  So many, in fact that a trip to our local Redbox is almost never fruitful.  Yes, there is an occasional really-dumb science fiction flick that Muri refused to see but that’s about it.  Netflix and Amazon Prime are relegated to rerunning favorites only.   And here in the midst of summer, our prolific movie-going often leaves us little choice in the local theaters for a Date Night film.  We pretty quickly pick off the films-with-a-brain like The Big Sick, Dunkirk and Baby Driver and a few high-quality animated films like Despicable Me 3 (I love minions!). It only takes a few over-blown superhero epics and space fantasies for us to have had our fill of CGI special effects and crash-bang mayhem.

Monday (Musical) Smiles

I grew up listening to Broadway musicals.   It was not entirely my choice, however.  My Mom, who loved music almost as much as I do, loved Broadway shows and her record collection (remember those) included most original cast recordings of her favorites.  My Fair Lady.  South Pacific.  Oklahoma.  I’d say her favorite was The King and I, at least in part because she had a crush on Yul Brynner.   She would play her music during the day until Dad came home from work, then turn it off.  Dad was a fan of quiet.  Me?  Being the lyric-sponge that I am, I still know virtually every word to every song that she played.

Monday Smiles – 1/25/2016

Years ago, when my wife Muri and I were younger … and friskier … we would periodically take mini-vacations.  We’d find, perhaps, a play on Saturday evening and maybe a concert on Sunday, then stay in a hotel near the venue on Saturday night.  Dinner at one of our favorite restaurants was always part of the agenda.   As we push forward, me into my seventies and Muri not far behind, we still reserve nearly every Saturday for a date but the mini-vacations have been few.

Feeling (24 Years) Older

Last night, as I often do leading into the weekend, I was fulfilling my role as the Social Director of the Eyes Household, looking for an activity for Saturday (aka Date) Night.   I wasn’t having much success for a variety of reasons.  We’ve seen nearly every film we want to see.  We’ve seen so much theater, that we’ve either seen most local offerings or they are too community theater for our tastes.  Yes,  there is some theater snob in both of us.  I’ve never heard of the bands at local music venues.   Friday had been a long day and I really wanted to find something nice so I was excited when I discovered a Tchaikovsky Spectacular … with Fireworks … at the Hollywood Bowl with tickets available.  I immediately bought two online and went to  bed happy.  This morning, not so much.  I recalled the long walk and the stair climb to the nosebleed seats I’d purchased at the Hollywood Bowl.  And I remembered the sore hip that has had me limping around for over a week, some days a little and some days a lot.   I think I did something dumb last night, I said to my wife, Muri, as I was telling her about the tickets.  I will probably see if there is a way to return them when I get home from my morning trip to the park (where the short walk to the restroom made it clear that the Hollywood Bowl is a NO WAY) but there’s a good chance I can’t.  Shit.

Monday Smiles – 6/29/2015

This weekend was a two-movie weekend for Mr. and Mrs. Eyes.  Even though we are both movie fans, that is a rarity.  Our two-movie weekend was the result of two unrelated occurrences.  First, when the Social Director (that would be me) consulted the internet, there were no live events that I cares to see.  Has anyone else notice that they’ve never heard of the bands at music venues, or if you have, you don’t know why anyone would want to see them?  Yep, I’m and old curmudgeon. A movie is the default date for Date Night.  We saw a film with the peculiar title Infinitely Polar Bear at the Westpark Theaters in Irvine.  The Westpark shows films that don’t make it to the mainstream theaters, hence its nickname, The Artsy-Fartsy Theater.   It is a good name indeed because, when you see indie and small market films, they are sometimes excellent (artsy) and sometimes peculiar and/or awful (fartsy).   Polar Bear was, in spite of its odd title, and excellent portrayal of a father struggling to keep his family together while suffering from bipolar disorder.   Mark Ruffalo, who is becoming one of my favorite actors managed to bring both humor and pathos to the role of the father.   The film managed to be a drama about a serious subject and yet find humor in the situations.

Monday Smiles – 3/9/2015

My wife, Muri, is a planner. I am not. She keeps a calendar of all her activities for the week. I keep a calendar of activities that I absolutely cannot afford to miss, like business appointments. The rest, I wing it. Muri writes down menus for the days she cooks and from those menus, makes shopping lists. On the days, I cook, I stop at the market and pick out whatever looks good for dinner. Muri is disciplined. I am spontaneous. However, there is one time our styles converge … on Saturday night, also known around here as Date Night. We both like to have plans ahead of time and I am usually the social director, searching the internet for events or seeing what movies are playing where. And making dinner reservations on the smartphone app, Open Table.

Monday Smiles – 1/19/2015

I am the unofficial social chairman in our household.   When I am an energetic social director … and the local venues cooperate … our Date Nights can be a cultural smorgasbord.  Other times … well, it’s movies-movies-movies.   With a new year in hand, the social director is indeed energetic and Goldstar Events is cooperating by offering interesting weekend events at half price.  Saturday night, we went uber-cultural, taking the roughly 50 mile drive to Ambassador Auditorium to hear McGegan’s Brahms, performed by the Pasadena Symphony.  Not to be elitist, but do you realize that that one date puts us in very sparse company?  Less than 10% of Americans attend classical music performances on a yearly basis.   And, by the way, only 2.8% of album music sales in the U.S. are classical recordings.  Such statistics lead publications like Slate to say, When it comes to classical music and American culture, the fat lady hasn’t just sung. Brünnhilde has packed her bags and moved to Boca Raton. Classical music has been circling the drain for years, of course.

Monday Smiles 1/12/2015

It is four thirty-five in the afternoon.  In less than an hour, the first College Football Playoffs Championship Game kicks off.  Is it OK if I just say, This was a good weekend.  It’s Monday … I’m smiling and call it a day?  No?  I have to explain why it was good?  Seriously?  OK.

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See?  It was a good weekend.  I’m smiling.  Now can I go watch the game?

Monday Smiles – 10/27/2014

For our almost fifty years together … including 46 years of marriage … Saturday Night has been Date Night.    I consider weekly Date Nights as one of the secrets to a long marriage and therefore, to a degree, sacrosanct.  Oh, there are exceptions.  One of us doesn’t feel well.  Family emrgencies.  Special occasions.  Taking care of the grandkids.   Fortunately, in Older Eyes Big Book of Rules for a Long Marriage, Make-up Saturday Night Date Nights are allowed on any day of the week.   So, I can say with assurance, we’ve had about 2,500 Date NIghts in our years together.   This year, for some reason my USC Trojans Football Team has been playing in prime time on Saturday NIght, so we’ve been trading Saturday Date Nights for Sunday so I can watch.   However, I’m considering revising Older Eyes’ Big Book of Rules to disallow swapping of Date Nights for football, instead allowing taping of the games … to be watched Sunday, IF WE WIN.   That’s because this year’s edition of the mighty Trojans has a penchant for losing games in the final seconds which leaves Older Eyes gasping for breath and unable to get to sleep later on when he goes to bed.   OK, the gasping for breath part is an exaggeration.  Cursing loudly is closer to the truth.  Last night, we lost with eight seconds left to Utah (Utah! Really? Gasp! Cuss!).   OK, if you’re here for Monday Smiles, stick around … I’ll skip the gory details and move on to Sunday.

Dinner and a Movie (?)

I haven’t talked about Date Night here on Older Eyes – Bud’s Blog in a long time.  In case you’re a long time reader and wonder if we’ve given it up, we haven’t.  In case you’re a new reader and wonder what the heck I’m talking about, my wife Muri and I have, for 46 years of marriage, always made Saturday night Date night.  Oh, yeah, we may skip one if there’s something going on (like last week’s Men’s Retreat) but we usually schedule a Make-Up Date.  And sometimes, we’ll do our Saturday Date on Friday or Sunday if there’s a play we want to see and that’s when tickets are available.  Our dates aren’t always grand … a casual dinner at a local restaurant and a movie is our  … Dinner and a Movie …Default Date. That didn’t always work … I used to be a pain in the neck about movies, which annoyed Muri, but now I try to leave that to my Inner Curmudgeon and keep his opinions to myself.