This Southern Belle's Musings

This Southern Belle's Musings

"Darlin', don't ever take a Southern woman for granted!" [tm]

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Friday, February 27, 2004

Bibliophiles & Other Such (Acceptable)-philes

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Let him step to the music which he hears,
however measured or far away."
~ Henry David Thoreau (Walden)

"The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise.
It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us."
~ Ashley Montague

I admit it. I am both a book and movie fanatic. My book collection and movie collection could rival small town libraries and video rental stores.

In my last two houses (prior to this one, sadly), I was extremely lucky enough to have two separate, dedicated libraries in each house to support my vast (and ever-growing) collection of books. In both houses, one of the libraries was in my Artist's Studio and held books relating to my works as an artist, interior designer, photographer, writer, and miscellaneous associated materials. The second library (in both houses) was a dedicated room with wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, shelves to hold books of every imaginable topic, along with two over-stuffed reading chairs and accompanying lamps, a stereo system that played an assortment of light classical, jazz, and other background reading soundtracks, and enough wood and deep, dark colours to make a true "Gentlemen's Club" jealous. It was HEAVEN!

As a lifelong, dyed-in-the-wool bibliophile, living with another bibliophile with similarly strong convictions, together we have a book collection that literally scares moving companies. During our last move, the "official" inventory count by the moving company was 285 cartons of books from our formal library, which did not include my design studio library (another 47 cartons) or my S.O.'s workshop reference library (another 23 cartons).

"Why is it that we don't always recognize the moment
when love begins but we always know when it ends?"
~"Harris K. Telemacher" (L.A. Story)

"I suppose I could be pissed off about what happened to me.
But it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world.
Sometimes I feel like I am seeing it all at once, and it's too much.
My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst."
~ "Lester Burnham" (American Beauty)

And, movies!     Ahhhhhhhh!     What can I say about my fascination with allowing a celluloid journey to dispel reality for a brief moment in time?     Genres?     I don't pigeonhole myself with such labels.     I either like a movie, or I don't; and it doesn't depend on what some studio bureaucrat decided to label it for marketing purposes.

Yet, I will admit, for all of the movies I have seen (many -- several times, some at least fifty times or more), there are some that are labeled "classics" that I still haven't viewed yet.     And, now, after years of hype and "you've-got-to-see-(fill in the blank)," I find that, when I finally do view one of the so-called "classics" or Hollywood Heyday films, I'm often disappointed by the results.     I'm probably one of the few people in the world that was extremely disappointed by "Breakfast At Tiffany's," even though George Peppard's performance was stellar.     But, there are times, when I've been pleasantly surprised by older, and/or indie, and/or critic-trashed movies.

Take, for example, the following movies that had an entertainment value in spite of any number of variables that might affect potential watch-ability:

Mr. Skeffington (1944)

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Four Rooms (1995)

Daredevil (2003) - trashed by critics everywhere – not a bad "dispel-reality" film, even if it was Ben Affleck (Colin Farrell, Michael Clarke Duncan, Jon Favreau, and Joe Pantoliano were great redeeming factors for this movie!)

Ed and His Dead Mother (1993) -- I am a long-time Steve Buscemi fan!

I have to admit; I've never seen Citizen Kane.     I've never seen An Affair To Remember.     I've never seen the Godfather trilogy.     I've never seen (all of) The Graduate.     I've never seen (all of) Taxi Driver.     And, I didn't like Big, even though I'm a Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia fan because, no matter what choice Josh Baskin made, someone was going to be hurt in the process.     But, I've probably seen many more popular, as well as unpopular, obscure, foreign, and practically any other movie category in-between, than some movie critics that get paid to watch movies.

So, why not use the comment section below and tell me -- What movies appeal to you?

[Crash Davis starts to walk out on Annie
because he says he doesn't believe in quantum
physics when it comes to matters of the heart]

Annie: Well, what *do* you believe in?

"Crash" Davis: I believe in the soul, the cock,
the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the
hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that
the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent,
overrated crap. I believe that Lee Harvey Oswald
acted alone. I believe there ought to be a
constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf
and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet
spot, soft core pornography, opening your presents
Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve
and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft,
wet kisses that last three days.
~ Bull Durham

current mood: CREATIVE and ARTISTIC
current music: Men At Work and Dexys Midnight Runners (not at the same time!)

(c) 2004 A Southern Belle's Life

# Kitty purred her secrets at :12:58 PM
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Susan Reno-Gilliland, known as "Miss Kitty," an Irish lass, a true Southern Belle; a writer, photographer, animal-lover, dreamer, stargazer, totally tangled (or is that entangled?) in relationships, slightly obsessive iNFp with stories to tell! . . . (fascinated by forensics, human behavior, pushing all the right buttons of men I find interesting, and seeking utterly-sweet revenge without any repercussions.) I am a Friday's Child. Friday's Child is loving & giving.
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