Wednesday, March 28

Hubbie failed to set the alarm last night, and I forgot to remind him, so it was well after 7 a.m. before we woke up. I had to scramble to get ready to go to water aerobics, but I managed to leave the house only a few minutes later than usual.

On the way to the gym, I noticed that the trees are so fresh and new looking right now, though they are not in full leaf yet. As with everything else, they are greening too early, though. If summer is as early arriving as spring has been, the leaves will become parched and dusty by June.

On the road leading to the gym, a recycling truck was stopped in front of someone's house. As the line of cars grew longer behind it, a man leisurely picked up six bags, one by one, and put them in the recycle trailer. He was just in no hurry to get on with this business. I've been behind the trash guys before, and they work as though they're paid per trash can. But this guy must be paid by the hour.

It seems as though the more in a hurry I am at any given time, the more the world operates at a snail's pace. Still, I arrived at the parking lot in time to snag a good space.

The pool this morning was a touch cool, though it was okay once I got used to it. Our leader commented that she will have cataract surgery Friday, so a substitute will lead the group. I have an 8 a.m. meeting that day, so I won't be able to attend aerobics, anyway.

Back home, once I was ready for the day, I accompanied Mother to our house, where we packed a "brown bag" lunch to take to the free showing of several Film Festival features at the museum.

We arrived at the museum early, so I could get one of the two handicapped parking spaces. About 20 folks showed up for the event that including four short features done by independent film makers.

The first one was about a teen boy, who agrees to become baptized in a church other than his own so that he can impress a girl he wants to date. He is submerged, where he imagines he's swimming with the girl, who is bikini-clad. When called upon to release his demons, he fakes speaking in tongues, and is elated when the girl seductively smiles at him.

His motive, obviously, is not to get religion; it's to get that girl. But he doesn't. Because when he takes her to a movie (with the approval of her parents, who think she is safe with this nice, Christian boy who has been saved). She raises his hopes when she kisses him, but then she excuses herself to go to the ladies room, where she puts on fire red lipstick and leaves the theater to drive away with another boy.

The second film was about a man who makes contact with an alien, and sets a time for a meeting. But as he stands out in a field, he is unable to see the alien, who tells him he is right there, by a lake. Turns out, the space ship is very tiny. The "lake" is probably a puddle. The man decides it won't work to meet the alien. The alien says it's okay, because he's having a great time communicating with other "beings"...the fireflies.

The third film shows a man working in some sort of shop, while presidential speeches play in the background. One is the speech by Bush about the U.S. preemptive strike in Iraq, and the other is the speech by Obama about withdrawal of troops. My take on the film was that even in the face of extraordinary world events, we ordinary folks just go about our ordinary lives.

The fourth film was a fantasy about a man who lives in a steam-powered world and is writing an almanac on life ("Life is like a hot bath...it feels good in the beginning, but the longer you stay in, the more wrinkled you become). His life depends on routine order, so when his wife announces she is leaving to go visit her father, his life and even his home falls into chaos. He must decide whether to cling to his old ways, or move on. He moves on.

Back home, we rested for a while, and then I put leftover lasagna, and a dish of green beans in the oven for our supper. Hubbie, who worked in the yard all day, accompanied Mother home afterward.

Later, Hubbie and I went downtown to to a movie theater that has been converted into a church to see two films. One was a 28 minute pilot of a 1958 TV show about a boy and his dog. The episode was filmed in a small mountain town that is now a tourist attraction. This pilot revolved around a little girl getting lost in the woods, and the boy and his white shepherd who helped save her from a mountain lion.

The only showing of the pilot was at our other downtown movie theater in 1958. After seeing this film, it became apparent why the proposed series didn't fly. It was nowhere near the caliber of "Lassie," and "Rin Tin Tin," of the same era.

The main film was a documentary about the importance of the Library of Congress National Film Registry, which catalogs and archives "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" film treasures like Casablanca, Blazing Saddles, and West Side Story.

Watching this made us want to revisit some older films, and check out some that we haven't seen before. It's disturbing to realize so much film has been lost due to neglect, because folks didn't realize the importance of preserving it for future generations.